
! 



I 



ADDRESSES 



THE DUTIES, DANGERS, AND SECURITIES 



TOOTH 



WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 



THE HONOURABLE THEODORE FRELINGHCYSEX, ESQ. 



d.'eddy, 



By A\ 

PASTOR OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, IN NEWARK, N.J. 



NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY LEAYITT, LORD Co, 

BOSTON: CROCKER & BREWSTER. 

1836. 



Entered according to act of Congress, in tne year 1836. by Leavitt. Lord & 
Co.. in the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York. 



2 Gjv ^ 



PRINTED SY E. E. CLAYTON". 

7 Nassau-street. "tC^ 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY 

EY THE 

HONOURABLE THEODORE FREL1NGHUYSEN, ESQ. 



The following pages are addressed to the most 
interesting department of society. The youth of 
our country compose that portion of our people, 
to which the patriot and the Christian look, with 
like concern, for the fulfilment of their best hopes. 
Whatever there may be of promise, or of alarm, 
in the present posture of our affairs, the respon- 
sibility for the issue, rests with the youth of this 
generation. 

In a government founded on the public will — 
where the voice of the people can build up or 
pull down at pleasure, it is a truth of plain and 
fearful import, that this will must be under the 
regulation and control of sound and enlightened 
principles, or virtue will, very soon, have no 
defence, and vice, no check. In no age of the 
world has there been greater need of high moral 
and intellectual culture. What else shall restrain 



IV 



INTRODUCTORY. 



the excesses of passion, or check the outbreakings of 
misrule and licentiousness ? Vain will be the ma- 
jesty of our laws, and unavailing their sanctions, if 
religion shall be despoiled of its authority, and con- 
science lose its influence. Let these foundations 
be destroyed, and the main pillars of our institutions 
must sink together in one general ruin ; and history 
add another page to the sad record of departed re- 
publics. 

Whatever means, then, can be applied, to form the 
manners- — to mould the character, and purify the 
hearts of our youth, deserves the favour of all who 
love their country. 

This volume may put in a fair claim to such inten- 
tion. It embraces the whole range of duty, not so 
much by general maxims, as by particular and speci- 
fic instructions, adapted to the various occasions of 
individual and social conduct. It is no small part 
of its value, that its counsels to the young are cir- 
cumstantial. They follow the youth into every re- 
lation — warn him at each step, where danger 
threatens ; point him to the temptations that cluster 
along his path, and persuade him to walk in that 
good old way, which God hath blessed from the be- 
ginning. And moreover, regarding the courtesies 
and proprieties of conduct, as among the incentives 
and safeguards to virtue, these addresses present salu- 



INTRODUCTORY. 



V 



tary lessons concerning the laws of social intercourse. 
Some have classed such duties, under the denomina- 
tion of the minor virtues. If, by this, it was intended 
to detract from their importance, the injustice is as 
flagrant as the danger. They are essential parts of 
moral character; and the young man, who can 
habitually, and without remorse, violate the rules of 
good-breeding, and despise the christian precepts, 
that require of him to be courteous, and kind, and 
affable, whatever may be his pretensions, should be 
suspected as unsound at heart. His character wants 
those elements that, after all, furnish the safe tests of 
uprightness. Bad men, on some emergencies, may 
make displays of magnanimity that amaze the world. 
There is so much of splendour and applause about 
such achievements, that selfishness itself may be en- 
listed. But we must look at the noiseless, unpre- 
tending tenor of life, for the best indications of 
principle. It is not what we are occasionally, or 
under strong excitements, hutwhat we are habitually, 
in retirement, and at the fireside, that gives the 
satisfactory proofs of character. The fountain from 
which virtue is supplied sends forth a constant 
stream ; it flows on through sunshine and storm. 

Our Saviour's test of character, referred to him, 
who " was faithful in that which was least ;" and this 
justified his confidence for the rest, 

f* 



V! 



INTRODUCTORY. 



If the tendency of these addresses be not wholly 
mistaken, they will happily conduce to the forma- 
tion of a consistent moral character, on the basis of 
good sense and practical piety. And as such, they 
are commended to the youth of our country. 

If it be an object of laudable desire, and endeavour 
to fill up the measure of our days with usefulness ; 
if it be the highest wisdom to walk in the fear of the 
Lord, to seek first his favour, and to secure those in- 
terests that will abide with us to eternity, then surely 
we should earnestly heed the counsels that direct us in 
the way to realize these rich blessings. Moreover, 
the peculiar character of the present crisis should 
encourage the publication of works like the one 
before us. The diffusion of knowledge, the circula- 
tion of the Scriptures, the increase and spread of 
religious light through the medium of the Bible 
class and the Sabbath school, have tended to raise 
the standard of thought and intelligence. Men 
have not only learned how to think, but have also 
thereby attained just estimates of their rights. A 
spirit of inquiry has been awakened, that is not 
willing to take things as granted. The public 
mind thirsts after illumination on its duties and 
privileges. Systems of religion and of government, 
creeds and theories, are all subjected to the trial of 
investigation. And by all this, the way is prepared 
for the best, lessons that truth and virtue can furnish. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



vii 



And most solemn and urgent becomes the duty of 
all the friends of their race, to meet this demand 
with the purest aliment; for if they draw back, this 
craving appetite will seek its supplies from any 
source, however deleterious. The clear indications 
of Divine Providence, point to the press as an effec- 
tive agency by which to accomplish his gracious 
designs. And when infidelity is now wielding it 
to dreadful purpose, it behooves the friends of God 
and man to enlist its energies in their cause. Let 
every youth repair to these sources of sound 
and safe counsel. Let them come up to their high 
responsibilities. Soon they must assume the duties 
of religion, and the cares of government. How 
can they be qualified for such exalted service, unless 
by the wisdom that is from above. 

They should be taught to feel the need of this 
heavenly guidance ; and to urge and animate them 
to such course, let them remember the pilgrim 
fathers, who laid the foundations of our religious 
and political institutions. These recollections are 
always refreshing, and cannot be too much cherished. 
The tried and devoted men who planted the seeds 
of civil and religious liberty on these western shores, 
among their first services raised an altar to the 
Hearer of prayer. They feared God : they loved his 
gospel, and had fled for refuge to the Lord Jesus 



viii 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Christ, to be redeemed by his blood, and renewed 
by his spirit. 

These christian patriots loved the Sabbath, And 
God gave them full proof of his own promise : 
" them that honour me, I will honour." Where 
has been the nation or people since time began, 
whose prosperity has been equal to ours ? Among 
the causes that should induce a doubt or fear of the 
stability of our blessings, no one is more flagrant or . 
appalling, than the prevailing forgetfulness of the 
Lord's day. God has blessed this day from the be- 
ginning of time. Its hallowed light beams upon our 
world, as the gracious sign of divine benevolence ; 
as a consecrated pillar and defence of the truth ; 
and the nation or individual that dare despise- its 
authority, or profane its sanctity, will, sooner or 
later, be made to realize its vindication, in the dis- 
pleasure of God. 

Connected with the responsibilities of young men, 
there is one reflection that can hardly be deemed 
unseasonable at any time. No one can read the 
Bible with becoming attention, and not perceive that 
God designs the ministry of reconciliation to be a 
principal agency in the salvation of the world. 
The voice of the living preacher must be lifted up in 
every land, before the morning of millenial glory 
shall dawn upon the world. And to the youth of 
the United States, the church, and the perishing, 



INTRODUCTORY. 



now look for these living witnesses. " How shall 
they hear without a preacher ? And how shall they 
preach unless they be sent ?" 

And it may be added, how can they be sent, if 
the thousands of young men in the midst of us, refuse 
to hear the cry for help, and draw back the shoulder 
from duty ? 



From the Hoy. Joseph C. Hornblower, Esq., Chief Justice of the 
State of New-Jersey. 

Newark, April 10th, 1836. 

Rev. and Dear Sir : 

I was not so fortunate as to hear the whole series 
of discourses to the young, recently delivered by 
you from the pulpit of the first Presbyterian church 
of this place. Judging, however, from such of 
them as it was my privilege to hear, I cannot doubt 
but that the publication of the entire series, in the 
order in which they were delivered, will be highly 
acceptable to the public, and no less beneficial to 
that interesting class of the community, for whose 
instruction they were specially designed. While it 
is undoubtedly the high calling, and paramount du- 
ty of the ministers of our holy religion, to preach 
Jesus Christ and him crucified, by proclaiming the 
plain, practical, and simple doctrines and precepts of 
the gospel, as applicable to sinners of every age and 
sex, it cannot be otherwise than proper, occasion- 
ally at least, for the faithful Pastor to address him- 
self more particularly to the younger members of his 
flock. 

It is true, the world already abounds with publica- 
tions, intended, and some of them eminently calcu- 
lated to improve the young, and to guard them 
against the dangerous influences to which they are 



INTRODUCTORY. 



xi 



peculiarly exposed, in this day of mental indepen- 
dence, moral innovation, and intellectual enterprise. 
I know, too, it is vain to hope for much success from 
attacks upon the prevailing sins, and fashionable 
vices of the day. . The christian minister, and the 
private Christian, will not, and ought not to cease 
from bearing testimony against them on all sea- 
sonable and proper occasions; but, after all, the 
religion of the gospel is of personal and individual 
application. Communities, or whole classes of per- 
sons, are only moral or religious, in proportion to 
the number of individuals among them, who are 
brought under the saving and practical influence of 
the truth as it is in Jesus. The difficulty of making 
converts to Christianity, does not consist in convin- 
cing the devotees of pleasure, of the dangerous ten- 
dencies of the theatre; the destructive consequences 
of midnight revels, and the dissipating, if not posi- 
tively sinful effects of the ball-room. It requires no 
more schooling, however they may effect to think 
otherwise, to convince the gay and fashionable, and 
pleasure-seeking youth of both sexes, that such 
scenes and amusements are unprofitable, and delete- 
rious to health and morals, than it does to convince 
the intemperate, and the slaves to other gross and 
polluting vices, that they are pursuing a course 
alike destructive to their souls and bodies. They 
know it, and feel it by daily and sad experience. It 



xii 



INTRODUCTORY. 



seems almost hopeless, therefore, to repeat the as* 
saults that have been made on the 'legion of fash- 
ionable vices in the mass. They have been the 
subject of attack for centuries, and seem, not only to 
have survived the blows, but to have thrived and 
flourished most, even where the pulpit has been most 
eloquent. 

The difficulty lies in the human heart— in the love 
of pleasure ; or rather in opposition to be found in 
the unregenerate, whether young or old, to pure and 
holy living. In the absence of piety, novels and 
other ephemeral, and even vicious books, will be 
read instead of the Bible, however justly you de- 
nounce the former and commend the latter. In the 
absence of piety, the theatre, the ball-room, and the 
card-party will be frequented, instead of the closet, 
the prayer meeting, and the sanctuary, however elo- 
quently you may declaim against the former, and 
however persuasively you may describe the rational 
and divine enjoyments of the latter. In short, in the 
absence of personal, individual, heart-felt, and ge- 
nuine piety, the world, in some of its forms and 
fashions, will be cherished and embraced by the 
young, however gravely and affectionately you may 
warn them, or however graphically you may describe 
their dangers. It is, then, by making the young 
pious, that we must expect to win them from the 
sinful pleasures, or, if you please, the soul-destroy- 
ing fashions and follies of the world. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



xiii 



It is, sir, because I thought your addresses to the 
young, so far as I had the happiness to hear them, 
were, in general, calculated to enlighten their minds 
upon the great subject of salvation ; and, under the 
heavenly and subduing influence of the Divine Spirit, 
to render them truly and practically pious, in the 
gospel sense of that expression, that I was gratified 
to hear you had been requested to give them to the 
public ; a request I sincerely hope you will not fail 
to comply with. 

I am, Rev. and dear sir, 

Your obedient servant, 

JOS. C. HORNBLOWER. 

Uer, A. D. E.oor. 



2 



PREFACE. 



To the Youth of the First Church and Society of the City of Newark, 
New-Jersey. 

My Young Friends:— 

The following addresses were prepared and de- 
livered without the most remote expectation that 
they were to be published. And it is at the repeated 
solicitation, which I have received from you, as well 
as from others more advanced in life, that I have 
consented to this disposal of them. 

It is not from any impression of their intrinsic va- 
lue, or that there is special demand at the present 
time, for works of this character ; but rather that I 
may meet your wishes, from whom I have received 
unexpected marks of respect and kindness ; and at 
the same time, if possible, contribute to advance that 
growing spirit of improvement, which I am happy 
to find existing among you, and which your nume- 
rous arrangements for social intercourse and intel- 
lectual elevation are fitted to cherish. 



PREFACE, 



When I reflect what this city has become, under 
the industry, the enterprise, and the moral character 
of its youth, and that there are near five thousand 
of this class among us, most of whom are capable 
of contributing to advance still more the interest of 
this community, and who, at the same time, are ex- 
posed to the influence of those temptations which 
are always found increasing in populous towns ; I 
am deeply solicitous to do all in my power, to show 
my interest in their prosperity, and to contribute, in 
every possible way, to their intellectual and mora! 
elevation. 

It is this alone which gives wise direction to the 
spirit of enterprise, and renders the resources of pe- 
cuniary gain subservient to useful and valuable 
ends. 

This city, undoubtedly, owes its rapid improve- 
ment and present elevation, in no small degree, to 
its labouring population ; and its continued advance- 
ment and future respectability must, in a great mea- 
sure, depend upon preserving to this class that re- 
spect and attention to useful reading and study, to- 
gether with the various means of moral influence, 
with which our age abounds. 

It is not from the occupations of men that the 
invidious distinctions of life arise, but from the di- 
versity of intellectual and moral qualities which are 
exhibited. If the employment in which we are en- 



PREFACE. 



xvii 



gaged is useful, and contributes to the good of so- 
ciety, nothing can disgrace us but ignorance or 
moral delinquency. If the great body of the people 
are educated, and moral, no force of wealth, no 
heraldry of family, and no corruption of party, can 
throw those into favour and power, who are ignorant, 
debased, and intriguing. 

And there is no occupation, which is not in itself 
wrong and disgraceful, from which men may not 
rise by the force of intellect, education, and morality, 
to stations of commanding and' honourable influ- 
ence. 

The facilities for improvement and elevation are 
so multiplied in this country, and, at the same time, 
the number of youth who fail to improve them, is so 
great, that it becomes a question of deep interest 
with all, what can be done to secure a more general 
attention to those subjects which contribute to suc- 
cess in life ? 

To one who has become familiar with the history 
of youth, and specially with that of young men, 
it requires no reasoning, and no evidence, with which 
he is not possessed, to show that a large proportion 
of those, whose early prospects were flattering, fail 
of meeting the expectations of their friends, and in 
vast numbers are altogether lost and abandoned. 

The records of ruined youth are crowded, and 
there are but few domestic circles, which some pain- 



2* 



xviii 



PREFACE. 



ful event has not invaded, if not from which some 
victim has been torn. 

The fairest prospects have been blasted ; the 
highest hopes ruined ; the most ample fortunes 
wasted,- and the loftiest minds prostrated and lost. 
Indeed, such has long been the character of our 
country, and the peculiarity of the temptations to 
which our youth are exposed, that to great success 
in human pursuits, where moral character was not 
above all other possessions valued, speedy and 
entire prostration has almost uniformly succeeded ; 
so that our history is but the record of rapid 
changes, and of sudden successions. The heirs of 
poverty become affluent parents ; while the offspring 
of the rich die poor. 

An examination, though made to a very limited 
extent, may teach a melancholy lesson on this sub- 
ject, and show the demand for efforts, to create addi- 
tional and stronger securities to the safety and virtue 
of the young. 

Twelve young men were associated and engaged 
in different pursuits in the same place. A few 
years since, but two remained — one was closing the 
eyes of the other. The solitary survivor, standing 
alone over the graves of his associates, became 
alarmed, and disclosed the course of their indul- 
gence, and the cause of their disgrace and early 
death. 



PREFACE. 



xix 



Fifteen other young men entered together upon 
the active duties of life, with flattering prospects, of 
whom, twelve have already died in disgrace, and the 
remaining three are fast following in their steps. 

From an examination respecting labourers in four 
different kinds of business, the following is the re- 
sult as to their character and success. Out of one 
hundred and fifty engaged in the same occupation, 
only thirty maintain a respectable character, the re- 
maining are mostly dead or abandoned. Two-thirds 
of all engaged in another branch of business be- 
came in a few years dissolute and abandoned. In 
another, three-fourths were immoral and ruined ; 
and, in still another branch of labour, out of thirty- 
four young men, only eight preserved habits of so- 
briety, and escaped early disgrace and death. 

A continued investigation through all the depart- 
ments of labour, might not give relief to the paiu- 
fulness of this picture. And to one familiar with the 
history of young men of literary pursuits, and look- 
ing forward to the honours of professional life, the 
same melancholy result presents itself. No one, 
who has not pursued the examination, can form any 
idea of the failure and utter ruin which have 
crowded in the history of our youth. We are 
interested in the living, and soon forget the dead. 
We are drawn into society by the moral and indus- 
trious, the intelligent and pious, and seldom witness 



XX 



PREFACE. 



the multitudes who are destitute of manliness and 
virtue, and who move in crowds through darkness 
and degradation, to the land of forgetfulness and 
silence. 

It may not be impossible that our free and equal- 
izing institutions, with all the advantages which they 
afford, are easily perverted and made to subserve 
the cause of immorality. Freedom and equality in 
civil rights, where the rich, educated, and virtuous in 
many respects, must come upon a level with the poor, 
the ignorant, the vicious ; and who, in relation to 
the interests of the state have an equal voice with 
them, may tend, when misunderstood and abused, 
to create other and mistaken impressions of equality, 
and give to the ignorant and abandoned, that envy 
and arrogance which are fatal to reformation and 
success in life, and which contribute to constantly 
increasing degradation. 

We cannot disguise the fact, that there are causes 
maturing, if not already in gloomy progress in our 
country,, of the same character as those which pre- 
ceded the Reign of Terror, and the horrors of the 
French Revolution. The agrarian spirit — the le- 
veling principle — the restless, radical, and ultra 
movements, so fast maturing the fruits of fanaticism, 
are no doubtful premonitions of scenes forbidding 
and fatal to our peace and happiness. 

It is important to secure contentcdness and re- 
spectability to the labouring classes. This can be 



PREFACE. 



xxi 



done by the improvement of mind, and by moral 
culture. It is equally desirable to invest the charac- 
ter of literary and professional men with the charms 
of intellectual integrity, and the still higher adorn- 
ments of religious worth. And when to our commer- 
cial and mercantile population shall be generally im- 
parted a love of letters, and a rigid adherance to the 
precepts of the gospel, in the various transactions of 
life, then, and not till then, shall we expect that 
change in society which is now demanded, and that 
security to the rising generation, which is so de- 
voutly desired. 

The topics of consideration, which I have pre- 
sented in the following addresses, are such as I have 
found to be most important, and as demanding 
attention, from my own observation for the last 
twenty years. 

Those traits of youthful character which I have 
suggested, the dangers and delinquencies to which 
I have referred, as most injurious to reputation and 
the good order of society, are such as have present- 
ed themselves to my knowledge, as I have been 
called to mingle in the active scenes of life. And I 
am more and more persuaded that the failures, mis- 
fortunes, and disgrace which we witness, might have 
been saved by wise and judicious habits in early life. 

Without a more elevated standard of morals 
among our youth, and more successful means of 



XXII 



PREFACE. 



intellectual and moral culture, many of you may 
be disappointed as to success in life, if not as to 
the prospect of ultimate and eternal good. 

With the hope and earnest prayer of exciting 
among you continued, and increasing interest on 
these important subjects, I commit the following 
pages to your consideration, and assure you of my 
grateful and affectionate regard. 

A. D. Eddy. 

Newark, April, 1836. 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER I. 

in; what true 'virtue 'consists. — What is essential to its attainment. — The 
interesting character and influence of the young. — Knowledge which it 
is important for them to gain %z 

CHAPTER II. 

Personal responsibilities or duties which the young owe themselves. — 
1. Self-respect. — 2. Self-preservation.— 3. Personal reputation. — Vera- 
city. — Regard for the reputation of others. — Slander. — Othciousness. — 
Abused confidence 30 

CHAPTER III. 
Personal obligations or duties which the young owe themselves, continued. — 
Industry essential to respectability and virtue. — Temperance. — Freedom 
from profaneness and vulgarity. — Practical benevolence. — Respect for 
religion, and reverence forthe Bible 45 

CHAPTER IV. 

Personal obligations or duties which the young owe themselves, continued. — 
1. To seek and secure happiness in the way prescribed by infinite wis- 
dom. — 2. To become acquainted with truth and duty, and to have moral 
and religious principles established. — 3. To be constantly improving. — 
4. To avoid an excessive desire for wealth. — 5. To avoid extravagance 
and a restless desire for society 52 

CHAPTER V. 

Personal obligations or duties which the young owe themselves, continued. 
— 1. Respect for public opinion. — What is implied in respect for public 
opinion. — 2. The duty and importance of selecting proper associates. — 
3. The duty of being prepared for the vicissitudes of life 62 

CHAPTER VI. 

On the social constitution and mutual dependence, laying the foundation 
for the best interests and happiness of man, at the same time exposing 
him to danger when abused and perverted 70 

CHAPTER VII. 
On the relation of children to parents, and the duties which that relation 
imposes. — 1. Filial obedience ; whence this duty arises, and what it im- 
plies. — 2. Filial affection and gratitude 79 

CHAPTER VIII. 

On the relation of brothers and sisters. — Its effects on parental reputation 
and happiness. — 1. Duties of this relation. — 2. To cultivate the fraternal 
affections, and to promote each other's happiness. — 3. Mutual respect 
and effort for each other's improvement. — 4. Kind attentions. — 5. Special 
and distinct duties of brothers 90 

CHAPTER IX 

On the duties of the young in forming and sustaining the interest and re- 
putation of the community. — 1. The immense influence which they exert. 
— 2. Their obligation to use that influence for the good of others. — The 
necessity of disunion and separate communities in past ages. — The re- 
mingling of the human family under the gospel and the advance of soci- 
ety. — The increased necessity of intelligence and moral influence — with 
obligations to secure and employ it 103 



xxiv 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER X. 

The duties which the young owe to the community, and their obligations 
to advance the best interests of society.— By increasing its intelligence.— 
The relative value of intellectual attainments.' — Liable to perversion.-— 
What they have enabled man to accomplish when rightly directed. — 
Peculiarly needed at the present time. — In danger of being undervalued 
and neglected. — From reliance on facilities rather than on application 
and mutual discipline. — Excessive desire for wealth. — Light literature.. 112 

CHAPTER XI, 

Intellectual attainments favourable to religion. — Religion contributes to 
mental development and culture, and also stimulates to industry and 
enterprise. — The duty of making all attainments to subserve the interests 
of virtue and piety . 142 

CHAPTER XII. 
The certain method of securing temporal prosperity. — The formation of a 
virtuous and religious character. — Obstacles which strongly oppose the 
formation of such a character. — 1. Strong desire for public action, and 
aversion to laborious exertion. — 2. Love of games. — 3. Want of serious 
reflection, sobrietj*, and temperance. — 4. Neglect of the gospel, as the 
only rule of duty, and way of life, and salvation 152 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Obstacles to the formation of moral and religious character continued. — 
1. The ordinary amusements of the young. — The theatre. — Dancing, &c 
— 2. Erroneous principles respecting the standard of morals in the different 
sexes. — 3. Impressions that personal character is unknown. — The wisdom 
and mercy of God in disclosing the depravities of men. — His forbearance 
and goodness towards the guilty • . 163 

CHAPTER XIV. 

On Infidelity. — Scepticism, a feature of the present age. — The female sex, 
generally, exempted. — Young men, peculiarly exposed to it. — The pro- 
minent causes of Infidelity. — The constitution and character of young 
men favourable to the action of these causes. — The characteristics of In- 
fidelity. — 1. Its uniform Ignorance. — 2. Disingenuousness. — 3 Its scur- 
rility, grossness, and vulgarity.— 4. Instability. — 5. Inconsistency. — 6. It 
is immoral, debasing, and cruel. — 7. Uniformly unsuccessful. — 8. Arro- 
gant and boastful. — 9. It is at war with the analogies of nature and 
Providence. — 10. Contrary to the fulfilled prophecies of the Bible, and 
the authentic history of the world. — Christianity. — Its characteristics, 
as contrasted with those of Infidelity 189 

CHAPTER XV. 
Duties which the young owe to their Creator, contained in the decalogue. — 

The FIRST FOUR COMMANDMENTS PRE-EMINENTLY IMPORTANT. 1. From 

their specific object. — 2. The estimation in which they are held by the 
Jews, and the providences of God towards that people, in relation to 
these commandments 218 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The pre-eminent importance of the first four commandments, continued.— 
3. They are the foundation and support of all the others. — The security 

! of moral principle. — Their violation is the destruction of this principle. — 
The character of society where these are unknown or disregarded. — The 
permanent existence of the specific objects of these commandments 235 

CHAPTER XVII. 
On the wise arrangement of God, in creation and providence, to render 
mankind happy. — Our safety and happiness found in regarding the 
established and uniform laws of God, in nature, providence, and 
grace. — The evils of life, and the retribution of future misery, the re- 
sult of violating these laws 253 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



CHAPTER I. 

In what true virtue consists. — What is essential to its attainment. — The 
interesting character and influence of the young. — Knowledge which 
it is important for them to gain. 

On an evening of extraordinary interest, when 
the Saviour of the world was celebrating, with his 
disciples, the most impressive festival of Israel, that 
which prefigured his own mediation and the mercies 
of God in our redemption, he inculcated, by his own 
example, the spirit of charity and holy obedience : 
Saying; If ye know these things, happy are ye, if ye 
do them. Obedience to the divine precepts, is the 
duty and the moral dignity of man ; and it is from 
the divine precepts alone, that we learn the securities 
of virtue and the value of holiness. 

In the great subject of human duty, there are three 
things which are presented for our consideration — 
Ourselves, our fellow men, and OUR GOD. 
A proper regard for each, constitutes the whole 
circle of human duty, and presents the fairest speci- 
men of human excellence. There are some men, 
who, professedly, to honour God, would annihilate 
all private considerations. There are others, who, 
with apparent benevolence to man, seem to suspend 
3 



26 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG™ 



all private considerations, and even all regard for 
God, in the more direct service of his cause, and 
make the honour of a public benefactor, stand in 
higher relief and more engaging charms than pri- 
vate piety or holy devotedness to God. There may 
be others still, so engaged in the culture of private 
piety, so engrossed in secluded devotion, that they 
almost forget that God or the world has any claims 
upon them for open and active engagedness. The 
most observing eye may mark a spotless private 
character, yet useless as to all the demands of this 
redeemed world, as an unembodied spirit above, 
uncommissioned on one act of mercy to mankind. 

As intelligent, responsible, and immortal beings, 
we should never forget the Great Author of our 
existence, nor cease to adore and love him. As a 
subject of government, and of future retribution, 
made to feel deeply, to enjoy what is unspeakable, 
or to endure forever, man should never forget him- 
self as a portion of the vast intelligent creation: and 
thrown into existence with countless crowds, like 
himself, whose wants, sympathies, pleasure, and 
honour, are bound to his own, by the necessities of 
life, he must not overlook the duties which he owes 
to his fellow men, across whose broad and countless 
crowds are thrown influences mutual and reciprocal, 
amazing and innumerable. A proper regard for 
our Creator, our fellow men, and ourselves, consti- 
tutes true virtue. 

These leading and essential principles of 
character, developed as they are, through the whole 
registry of life, are subjects which should pre- 
eminently command the attention of the young. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



27 



The wise and benevolent of every age have re- 
garded this portion of the community with peculiar 
interest, and they should be so regarded by all. 
There is no great revolution, however splendid and 
useful, or disgraceful and ruinous, which has not 
been effected by the nerve of their arm. When 
ancient institutions were overthrown, their influence 
was secured and debased. Modern Europe has 
presented one broad field of blood ; on that field 
her sons were marshalled for conflict and victory. 
The power of the Turk, that had been strengthening 
for centuries over the weakened energies of Greece, 
is broken, only by the resolute and determined spirit 
of her young Hetaria. 

Let our youth be roused ; their enthusiasm en- 
kindled, and there is nothing within the reach of 
human power which they might not accomplish. 
They have physical force, intellectual energy, and 
moral fortitude ; a resoluteness for effort, which full 
knowledge of opposing interests, and the discou- 
ragements of disappointment, have not yet weakened. 
They explore and people new continents ; subdue 
the wilderness, and plant the gardens of civilized 
life. They are the vigour of every enterprise of 
noble daring. There is no land by them unvisited ; 
no sea untraversed. Already they have planted the 
cross on heathen shores ; ascended the hills of Zion ; 
died amid the tombs of the prophets, and though 
dead, yet speak. 

We have too long undervalued, and our youth 
have too long undervalued, the power which they 
hold ; or, rather, we have not felt how successively 



28 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



that power might be made to bear on the subjects of 
public industry, education, and morals. 

The physical and intellectual energies of the 
young- have often been demanded and employed ; 
but their aid has seldom been called in when moral 
changes were in view. If we rightly understand 
the subject, and the spirit of inspiration, this is the 
very time when their aid should be secured, and 
their influence exerted. Here, at the same time, 
they may impart and receive permanent good. As 
they bring their energies to elevate and sustain 
public morals, they are strengthened in the princi- 
ples which they seek to establish. Do we wish to 
increase the intelligence and confirm the morals of 
our youth, we should early interest them in the cause 
of public education and virtue, and bring them to 
aid directly in its support. If we would have them 
religious, we should make them, if possible, the very 
guardians of religious institutions. Thus we touch 
one of the strongest springs of action ; call into 
exercise and sustain the moral principles of our 
youth, and make them feel that the cause of intelli- 
gence, morality, and religion is their own. 

Considering the age and the country in which we 
live, too much interest cannot be thrown around 
this portion of the community ; nor can too much 
labour be expended, to prepare them for the high 
destiny that awaits them. To them we would say, 
you cannot feel too deeply the responsibility of your 
station, and the claims of society upon you ; nor 
can you prize too highly the vast resources which 
God opens before you : while the dearest interests of 
a world are intrusted to your handsj you are in- 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



29 



vited to become the sons and daughters of the Lord ; 
the heirs of his eternal kingdom. The labours and 
qualifications necessary to meet this responsibility, 
to discharge the duties of life, and to secure the 
great end of your creation, are subjects of infinite 
importance. 

Knowledge of our character and relations is essen- 
tial to a virtuous life. Ignorance is often a crime, and 
always a misfortune. Yet, on those great subjects, 
where nature in her broad and bright volume opens 
to instruct us, there is no ignorance but what carries 
with it the charge and fearful consequence of moral 
delinquency ; and they who have the clearer light 
of inspired truth, have stronger claims urged upon 
them, and must incur the most solemn responsibility. 
Such is human nature, that duty is forgotten, 
and conscious obligation to himself, his kindred, and 
his God, is gone from man, where the gospel is un- 
known, and duty is learned but slowly, even from 
the Bible, and when learned, and all the precepts of 
the Son of God are preached, still may be found in 
his cold and frozen bosom the principles of deter- 
mined disobedience. All his knowledge of duty 
makes him hate it more, and while it swells his privile- 
ges and his obligations, it may only increase the mea- 
sure of his guilt, and deepen the anguish of his soul 
forever. But for the degeneracy of man, his know- 
ledge would be his honour and happiness ; but now, 
knowledge is not virtue nor religion. To spirits 
not on probation, knowledge is but a heavier curse, 
and knowledge of duty is valuable to us, only for the 
good it tells us how to gain ; and though embody- 
ing motives of unearthly force, to excite and urge to 

3* 



so 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



action, it leaves man still free, and, in his freedom, 
he may, and often does, resist the whole, and close 
his dark and dying eye against a flood of heavenly 
light. 

Notwithstanding the perversion of privileges and 
the abuse of mercies, a knowledge of the gospel 
which presents them, is essential to the right per- 
formance of duty. Here are lessons of instruction 
so extensive, so perfect, that in each department of 
life, every step is marked with unerring precision, 
and when followed as our divine Exemplar requires, 
a reflection of his own excellence and purity appears ; 
virtue and religion arise, pleasurable in possession? 
and profitable as the tie that binds moral intelligence, 
in the sweet sympathies of sanctified affection, and 
the strength of acknowledged obligation, Such are 
your natures, and your associations, that there can 
be no rest, but eternal wakefulness of moral action 
and re-action, the conferring of influence and the 
reflection of feeling. Moral existence is made for 
action, and is safe and happy, only as it moves on 
in its destined course of light and harmony, with 
kindred beings of moral excellence. It is the nightly 
conviction, that a day is lost, that makes your pil- 
low weary, and your bed forbidding : and the 
morning, that smiles in all the loveliness of May, 
to you, is dreary as the night of winter, when you 
anticipate nothing worthy to be done. The dark- 
ness of the night of death, settles in eternal gloom 
on souls whose day of life is lost, and hell is hopeless 
in unmingied endurance, from reflection on proba- 
tion wasted, While blessed are the dead who die in 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



31 



the Lord ; and heaven is happy as it is holy, from 
the undying remembrance of earthly fidelity. 

Awake to the consciousness of your existence, it 
becomes your duty to inquire into all those relations, 
privileges, and duties, which arise from your origin, 
your present state, and future destiny. These 
throw around you an amazing interest. I have 
already intimated that the symmetry and value of 
virtue and religion, do not allow us to overlook any 
branch of human duty. Neither ourselves, the inte- 
rests of our fellow men, nor the glory of God, are 
at any time to be disregarded. The design of the 
present work, is, to consider the duties which the 
youthful members of the community owe to them- 
selves and to others, as the associated subjects of a 
moral government, each bound to honour the Being 
who made him. 



32 DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



CHAPTER II. 

Personal Responsibilities, or duties, which the young owe themselves.— 
1. Self-Respect. — 2. Self-Preservation. — 3. Personal Reputation. — 
Veracity. — Regard for the Reputation of others. — Slander. — Offi- 
ciousness. — Abused Confidence. 

In calling you to a review of your duties, I would 
not have you unmindful of your degeneracy, yet I 
would have you feel, that, though in ruins, you stand 
forth as the wreck of no common creation ; you are 
intelligent, moral, and responsible still, and capable 
of restoration to a glory unequalled by man in inno- 
cence, or angels unfallen. God gave infinite value 
to man, by the impress of his own image ; he spoke 
of his still higher value when redeemed, while all the 
movements of this world, and the revealed realities 
of eternity, stamp with infinite worth your responsi- 
ble immortality. No order of beings has created in 
heaven and on earth such amazing interest as the 
race of man ; and each one of you forms a consti- 
tuent part of that race for whom this interest is felt, 
and each one of you is a partaker of that responsi- 
bility which it imposes. And if God never has, and 
never will overlook you, amidst the vast varieties of 
being ; if he numbers the hairs of your head, and 
watches the moments of your rest, well does it be- 
come you to regard your being, your relations, and 
your high responsibility. 

What are the duties which you owe YOURSELF ? 

1. Self-respect. By self-respect I do not mean 
pride, nor the aspirations of ambition, nor any thing 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



33 



kindred to these unlovely passions. Nor do I mean, 
that you should regard yourself as essential to the 
honour of the world, or the glory of God : but I do 
mean, that you should look upon those powers which 
God has given you, and upon those influences which 
arise from the character and circumstances of your 
life, and regard all these as clothing you with value 
to yourself, and with value to others ; viewing your- 
self as susceptible of ennobling influences, and capa- 
ble of imparting such influences to others; and as 
such, not to permit your nature to be debased, nor 
your influence to be vitiated. As youth, you should 
respect yourselves, not so much for what you are, as 
for what you may become, under the wise and gra- 
cious' care of heaven. What expansion of mind you 
may attain along the track of life, and through 
ceaseless ages ! What riches of knowledge drink 
in from infinite wisdom ! Wlvt exalted worth and 
moral excellence receive from t!ie grace of God ! 

You are, indeed, to have no respect for yourselves, 
considered in valuation as to personal moral worth ; 
for, of this, you are destitute : but you are to re- 
spect yourselves for those principles of moral being, 
which, united with your rational powers, so distin- 
guish you in the rank of created existence. On these 
your influence, your usefulness, your happiness de- 
pend. Existence, animal and rational, and even 
unbounded attainments of intellectual worth, without 
these moral principles, would neither create nor 
allow the cultivation of piety. 

If you have not self-respect, those intellectual 
powers and moral principles will be neglected, waste 
away their useless and perverted energies ; the ra- 



34 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



tional and responsible soul will sink, the wreck and 
ruins of what was created valuable and exalted, the 
miserable memorial of what might have been re-en- 
stamped with the image of its Author, and risen on 
high an eternal testimony of its Author's glory. 

Self-respect is not only essential to the improve- 
ment of our intellectual and moral powers, the 
security and culture of virtue and religion, but it is 
essential towards securing the respect of our fellow 
men, and preparing the way for valuable influence 
among them. Mark that man who has no respect for 
himself, and for your life, you cannot respect him, nor 
intrust any thing of interest to his care. You know 
he has or will become the victim of his own unhal- 
lowed passions ; a prey to all the crowding and 
corrupting influences of a fallen world. He may 
for a time amuse the world, and yet the world despise 
him, and he early sinks useless and miserable. 

Self-respect is the first successful step towards the 
reformation of injured character. No efforts will 
avail without this. This is one of the surest pledges 
of advancement and success in life, and it is one of 
the strongest barriers of protection which our Crea- 
tor has thrown around us. Respect yourself, or 
neither God nor man will respect you. Respect 
yourself and resolve to secure the respect of the 
wise and good ; and as you advance in years, you 
will rise in life, find your associations with the intel- 
ligent and virtuous, and be stimulated to constant 
effort for increased worth and usefulness. 

2, Self-preservation is an imperiousi uty 
that rests upon you. 

By this I do not mean simply, that you are bound 



DUTIES OF- THE YOUNG. 



35 



to preserve your safety, health, and life. Self-pre- 
servation I extend far beyond this. Man is complex 
in his nature, and complex in his character ; and by 
self-preservation, I mean a sacred regard to all his 
powers and faculties, physical and moral, on which 
his good and the design of his existence depends. 

On self-preservation, every thing rests, which 
stands connected with the value and responsibility 
of probation. There is something more meant than 
the simple pleasure of existence and instinctive love 
of being, when we say it is man's duty to preserve 
his life ; for that life stands connected with reason 
and moral feeling, and the interests of others, while 
infinite and endless results are suspended on its con- 
tinuance and improvement. 

The duty here presented, which you owe yourself, 
is comprehensive, and embraces, First, the duty of 
preserving life. 

Second, the duty of preserving health. Upon 
this, much of the value and pleasure of life depend. 
Neglect this, and you impair reason, relax energy, 
and early destroy life itself. When God has ex- 
tended the number of our years to threescore 
and ten, the millions who are swept so early to 
eternity, will present a fearful array of self-destroyers 
at the judgment day. Here it becomes our duty, to 
suppress inordinate desire, and quench the fire of 
youthful passions ; to avoid excessive and exhaust- 
ing labours, beyond what usefulness and duty 
demand ; to guard against habits of living, that 
impair native energies, cloud the mind, and vitiate 
moral sensibility. We must avoid such society, 
intercourse, and amusement ; recreation and study, 



36 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



and I will add, religious services, as entrench on 
hours which God has given for rest, and which our 
nature demands ; with all those extravagancies and 
exposures which so early spread paleness, and weak- 
ness, and disease over such multitudes of our youth, 
and which are peopling the grave with their millions 
of victims every year. 

3. Self-preservation implies the duty of securing 
and preserving your liberty. I mean not freedom 
from chains, tyranny, oppression, and servitude 
alone, but I mean also exemption from those oppres- 
sive influences, which circumscribe and control the 
free use of those principles which were made for 
freedom of action. It is your duty to stand aloof 
and free from those shackles that fetter the energies 
of the mind, and circumscribe the independence of 
thought. Not that you are to throw off respect for 
established principles of mental investigation and 
research, nor with misguided impressions of intellec- 
tual freedom, falsely called " free inquiry,' 5 refuse to 
acknowledge your obligation to superior wisdom, 
and to walk by the light of higher intelligence. 
This is not liberty, it is not manliness ; it is pre- 
sumption, licentiousness of thought and feeling, the 
mark of madness and folly. 

By liberty, I also mean freedom from that foreign 
influence which forbids your acting from convictions 
of dut}'. There are those, over whom unhallowed 
example, public opinion, and fear of the world, are 
more powerful than the voice of reason and of con- 
science, combined with the force of moral obligation. 
They have no mind of their own, they have no 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



37 



liberty ; they are often the slaves of the vain and 
abandoned. 

By liberty, is implied, also, exemption from those 
slavish habits of life which give the desire of indul- 
gence a governing influence, and often ultimately 
bind their subjects in chains of vice and misery. 
Exemption, too, from those powers of sin, satan, and 
the world, which so control reason and conscience, 
and war against the force of truth and the grace of 
God. It implies that freedom from selfishness and 
sin, which shall enable you to reflect upon God, a 
dying hour, and the opening scenes of eternit}^. 

*' He is the freeman, whom the truth makes free : 

Who first of all the bands of satan breaks ; 

Who breaks the bands of sin ; and for his soul, 

In spite of fools, consulteth seriously; 

In spite of fashion, perseveres in good ; 

In spite of wrath or poverty, upright ; 

Who does as reason, not as fancy, bids ; 

Who hears temptation sing, and yet turns not 

Aside ; sees sin bedeck her flowery bed, 

And yet will not go up ; feels at his heart 

The sword unsheathed, yet will not sell the truth ; 

Who, finally, in strong integrity 

Of soul, midst Avant, or riches, or disgrace, 

Uplifted calmly sits, and hears the waves 

Of stormy folly breaking at his feet ; 

Now shrill with praise, now hoarse with foul uproar, 

And both despised sincerely ; seeking this 

Alone — the approbation of his God, 

Which still, with conscience, witnesses his peace. 

This, this is freedom, such as angels use, 

And kindred to the liberty of God, 

First born of virtue ! Daughter of the skies ! 

The man, the state in whom she rules is free ; 

All else are slaves of satan, sin, and death." 

4 



33 DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 

III. It is your Duty to Regard your Reputation. 

1. And as an essential element of a valuable 
reputation, I would place, first, VERACITY, a sacred 
regard for truth. " Dice veritatem semper et ex- 
acte," speak the truth atuays and exactly, is a maxim 
whiclil would have deeply engraven on the heart. I 
am not speaking of the influence of falsehood on soci- 
ety at large, but of its influence on private, personal 
reputation. Let the impression be made, that your 
character for truth is suspicious, and you sustain an 
incalculable loss. Let the charge become fixed 
upon you, the charge of falsehood, of easy deviation 
from strict veracity, of exaggerating, of miscolour- 
ing reports ; I say, let this charge be fixed upon 
you, and you are ruined. Nothing but full confes- 
sion of conscious guilt and shame, with protracted 
reformation, can restore you to confidence. And 
what is more enviable than an unsullied reputation 
for truth ? In the varied departments of life, with 
all the accumulating relations and cares of this 
world, that man, who stands forth in unimpeached 
and unimpeachable veracity, is a monument of 
moral worth, and his reputation is more than wealth 
and honour. I know that there is often variation 
from strict veracity, where the subjects are more pri- 
vate, unimportant, and momentary, which may be 
called mere wanderings or embellishments of de- 
scription. But that person who will transcend the 
bounds of strict veracity, at one time, will do it again 
and again ; if he will do it on one subject of trifling 
character, he will, of course, do it on those of more 
importance, where the temptation becomes increased. 
If in description of facts he will exaggerate, he will, 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



39 



do so in other cases — he has no character remaining 
for truth and veracity — " speak the truth always and 
exactly^ I would write it on my Bible, and read it 
daily : write it on your hearts, that it may never be 
forgotten. 

2. The next element of a valuable reputation is 
respect for the reputation of others, which implies a 
character free from the spirit and habit of detraction. 
There is deeply embedded in our fallen nature, a 
tendency to slander, and to this, as youth, you are 
peculiarly exposed. It arises from native selfishness, 
and a consequent tendency to envy and rivalship. As 
distinction and possession, above what want demands, 
are chiefly relative, the more we depress others the 
more comparatively we are raised. Thus, this most 
unlovely, yet common trait of human frailty and 
dishonour, stands too prominent in the history of our 
race. 

Added to all this, there is often pride of discern- 
ment in marking, and a pleasure in reading charac- 
ter, and also the pleasure of imparting information, 
even in spreading defects of character, which is of 
no use, but of injury to all. Thus, slander has its 
origin and secures its currency. But I am not 
speaking of its effect on others, but of the injury 
that falls on him who gives it rise and circulation. 
Do this, and your reputation is gone. You are 
feared, shunned, and despised, and this, too. in the 
midst of your own fraternity. There is no character 
more unlovely. 

Nor is this all : there is something in human na- 
ture that shows the poisonous influence of the spirit 
of detraction as it re-acts upon its author. The 



40 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



Bible, that so brightly reveals human nature, thus 
writes it, " The lying tongue hateth him that suffer eth 
thereby.' 1 '' This is the principle. You will hate the 
man that you have slandered — and why ? because 
he is the living monument of your guilt. You have 
injured him, and that is the reason why you will hate 
him, and you will seek more defects in his character 
to sustain your charge. Thus, this cruel and guilty 
habit throws poison into your own soul, and weaves 
into your character the elements of misery, and 
clouds your reputation in the eyes of the world. 

Allied to the subject before us, and as injurious to 
the reputation I would have you to enjoy, is officious- 
ness in the affairs of others, which is often a rude in- 
trusion into the hallowed retirement of private life* 
I will not, however, speak of its cruel inroad on 
domestic peace and tranquillity ; how often it disturbs 
and destroys the repose of the sick and infirm, of 
whose weakness and trials you are neither able nor 
appointed to judge. I will not speak of its influence 
on the private occupations of men, in impairing 
credit and abating that confidence which is due 
them ; nor of those unhappy and unholy feelings of 
suspicion and jealousy, which are aroused and 
thrown through the public ; all these belong to 
another place. I speak of its influence on your own 
private reputation. What is more harassing to your 
own hearts than to be prying into the secrets of 
others ? Have you not troubles enough of your 
own without rolling on your arm the burden of 
others f Why should you perplex your own mind 
by winding your way into the perplexities of others J 
Until they ask your sympathy, your knowledge* 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



41 



your advice, it will be wise for you to come not 
within their secrets. 

An officious inquiry into the affairs of others is 
calculated to create the spirit and the habit of cen- 
soriousness and detraction. You can never offi- 
ciously inquire into the private arrangement of 
others, without impairing reputation and forfeiting 
friendship. 

As a general rule, I would say, know nothing, 
inquire not at all, say nothing about the private, do- 
mestic, or the more restricted professional habits of 
men, where you have no personal responsibility ; and 
even where you have, be cautious how this responsi- 
bility is met, lest you impair your own reputation. 
Be not busy bodies in other men's matters, was a wise 
remark, written for your instruction in the word of 
God. 

I have not been speaking of a habit which has no 
existence. It prevails every where ; you are all 
exposed to it ; and you know it is charged upon us 
as a national characteristic. Possess this trait of 
character, and you are an unwelcome visitor at every 
house. You are dreaded by all. No one feels safe 
from the inspection of your eye, and the profuse 
disclosure of your lips ; and what a reputation ! 
You soon throw yourself on an eternal quarantine, 
from the respect and confidence of all who respect 
themselves, and wish to guard their private interests 
from the public gaze. Unless you are the guar- 
dians of the manners and habits of more private life, 
or those manners and habits bear directly on the 
public morals, it would be wise for you to know 
nothing about them ; and even when they do, it will 
4* 



42 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG, 



be wise for you to inquire, how shall that influence be 
corrected, and whose duty does it become to arrest 
it? I have extended my remarks upon this point, 
which, though it may now seem unimportant to you, 
is connected with many endeared interests, and by 
it much of private character and friendship is often 
sacrificed forever. 

There is another subject which I wish to present, 
and it is not that of ofTiciousness, nor of slander, 
and yet it is somewhat allied to both. It is the dis- 
position and habit of seizing the remarks of free and 
unsuspecting conversation ; throwing them into new 
forms, and, under the profession of friendship, per- 
haps the requirement of secrecy, carrying them to 
persons and familiesof whom these free and unsus- 
pecting observations were made. There is, and 
always will be, too much freedom of observation 
and remarks in the society of men, even respecting 
their own friends. We are all defective, and liable 
to err ; and when we must all form our own opinion, 
and with more or less freedom express it, there is 
great forbearance demanded in social" life, as well 
as much watchfulness as to what we say. With all 
our clashing opinions and conduct, we cannot expect 
that all will see and feel alike, and it is natural to 
make the constantly recurring events, habits, and 
manners of a social community, subjects of social 
review; perhaps of free, and sometimes severe remark. 
A habit which is by no means to be commended, in 
its indiscriminate indulgence, yet which will, from the 
nature of society, to some extent exist. The habit 
1 have in view, is the abuse of this freedom of re- 
mark, criticism, perhaps stricture, or even direct 



DUTIES OP THE YOUNG. 



43 



censure of personal character and conduct, by 
carrying it home to the individual concerned. This 
is generally done in testimony of friendship, as an 
expression of interest in our behalf, to let us know 
how careful our informants have been of our repu- 
tation ; and generally they will tell us how they 
supported us when impeached, when, perhaps, they 
were the very persons to present us as subjects of 
censure ; and thus they will early seize the oppor- 
tunity to secure our minds in their favour, at the 
expense, perhaps, of our best friends, who spoke of 
us freely, but with the kindest feelings, and in 
language, too, from its character and connexions, 
wholly diverse from the shade it assumes in coming 
from its officious depositary. By this habit you 
will be regarded with distrust, and soon become an 
unsafe and suspicious witness of ordinary conversa- 
tion. You take upon yourself the hazardous re- 
sponsibility of being the interpreter and reporter of 
free and unsuspecting intercourse ; you easily form 
the habit of officious tattling, and busy yourself with 
the private feelings of others, which serve only to 
harass your own. And you gain no esteem, no 
confidence, no friendship, from those to whom you 
carry these free and unguarded expressions. You 
will be regarded, not as a friendly messenger of 
welcome and of profitable intelligence, but it will be 
said at once, that if you will bring such information 
you will also carry back the same, if you have it in 
your power. Thus you lose the confidence you 
vainly sought to gain, and of all the losers of each 
and every party, you lose the most. I had rather 
speak with injudicious freedom, or have my name 



44 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



presented with censure, than to be the messenger 
that bears it. Whatever be that freedom of remark 
or censure, be it mere stricture or downright defa- 
mation, who wishes to be the messenger of petty or 
malignant slander ? Both would fall harmless and 
die, were it not for pretended friends to emblazon it 
abroad, and harrow up suspicion, unholy and re- 
vengeful passion, in the bosom, that had been calm 
and undisturbed without it. We are not perfect, 
and we should not expect universal commendation. 
This you must not anticipate. But this I would 
have you desire, to regard all mankind as your 
friends, and cherish no suspicion of the sincerity of 
that friendship. This I would strongly desire ; and 
never wish to have poured into my ear, to pain my 
heart and check the freedom of my intercourse and 
usefulness, whatever may have been said or done in 
an unguarded moment, or what may have been 
thought or expressed of me, perhaps with the kindest 
feelings, if not of general approbation and esteem. 
I would say, then, know all men as friends, and be 
an unsuspecting friend of all ; and I would say, 
too, with feeling, and would enforce it on your 
consideration, never repeat to others what you have 
heard against them. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



45 



CHAPTER III. 

Personal obligation or duties, which the young- owe themselves, conti- 
nued. — Industry essential to respectability and virtue.- — Temperance. 
— Freedom from Profaneness and Vulgarity. — Practical Benevolence. 
— Respect for Religion, and reverence for the Bible. 

The habit of industrious application to some 
useful employment, is essential to a valuable reputa- 
tion. The duty of securing such a reputation is still 
further to be urged upon you. The requirement of 
industry, came not so much as a curse, as to render 
the curse tolerable. Industry, if it may not be 
classed among the virtues, is, nevertheless, one of 
the most effectual preservatives of virtue, contented- 
ness, health, and prosperity : while idleness, is the 
ruin of all earthly enjoyment. An idle man has no 
enjoyment, but as he sleeps like the brute and buries 
in oblivion the thought of useless existence. Nothing 
presents more clear and accumulating evidence of 
complicated mischief, suspicion, and rapid ruin of 
character, than the want of useful employment ; no 
leading and commanding object of interest and 
action to arouse, stimulate, and ennoble the physical 
and moral powers of man, Wickedness may com- 
mand respect from the wisdom of its plans, and the 
energy of its action, and become fearfully sublime in 
the wide range of its desolation 5 but he that is 
unemployed, unengaged in some active pursuit, in 
the eyes of all men, must be despised^ I would say 
to every youth, whatever may be your resources^ 



46 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



and whatever your prospects, have something useful 
to do, and always be engaged with energy. To be 
respected, be industrious. 

In this connexion, I would mention, as an essen- 
tial element of a valuable reputation, personal dig- 
nity. Avoid a trifling, childish character. A youth 
given to folly degrades his reason, and prostrates 
his mind ; and while he may amuse the thoughtless 
and the vain, he forfeits the respect of the wise and 
the good. There are, indeed, principles of pleasur- 
able emotion in the soul, and there is a cheerfulness 
that adorns the purest walks of christian virtue ; 
while the loud laugh, levity, and trifling, impairs 
the reputation of any youth for wisdom and piety, 
and is inconsistent with that decorum which belongs 
to educated and refined society. There is a dignity 
of deportment, that good sense, education, refine- 
ment, and true religion demand ; and he outrages 
all, who carries into his youth and advancing years, 
that trifling and levity that belongs only to his 
childhood. 

. Habits of Temperance are essential to a valuable 
reputation. To appeal to such as are already 
abandoned to the indulgence of intemperate desires, 
would generally be in vain. They have already 
lost respect for themselves, and become indifferent 
to the opinion of others. I would impress on your 
minds the value of strict temperance not only, but 
the duty of interest and co-operation in the cause of 
reform. In this day of light, of bold and expansive 
plans for the universal remedy of intemperance, to 
stand neutral, is extremely suspicious ; to look with 
cold indifference is doubly so ; to question the policy 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



47 



and to frown on the efforts of others; to indulge at 
all in habits leading on this most fatal scourge, fixes 
a reputation which no intelligent and virtuous youth 
can be willing to bear. To trifle with this subject, 
is to trifle with misery in its most appalling forms, 
and with death in its widest desolation ; and presents 
a fearful prospect of ultimately falling a victim to its 
ravages. You ought not, and you cannot, be insen- 
sible to the claims of the world upon you ; and 
neither would we have you insensible to the honour 
you may gain by becoming the guardians of its 
prosperity. Before you, are your infirm and dying 
fathers ; behind you, is rising an infant generation : 
while you are to lay the one in the grave, you are 
to form the character and guide the footsteps of the 
other. The state, with its heavy burdens, is rolled 
upon your arm, and on your shoulders the church 
rests the ark of her precious covenants. Such is 
your situation, and such your influence, that you 
may, with habits of sobriety and hearts of benevo- 
lence, revolutionize and remodel the world. Copy- 
ing the virtues of your fathers, enlightened and 
blessed of heaven, you may suspend the darkness 
and degradation of your race, and conduct the next 
generation to all that is lovely and exalted. Deny 
not yourselves the honourable reputation which you 
may acquire, by becoming the defence of your coun- 
try, from the strongest and most insidious of her foes. 
While on one side is sinking away the debased, 
abandoned, and lost ; on the other, rising an infant 
generation, in freshness and beauty, countless as the 
stars, let the great army of our youth rise between, 
a rock of salvation. 



48 



DUTIES OF THE YOUXG. 



And in this connexion, allow me to remind you 
of the influence of profaneness, in the destruction of 
character. I have but to mention this, and both the 
christian and the gentleman will shrink from the 
reputation it must give. Let it be remembered by 
every youth, one word of profaneness from your 
lips, and your reputation is tarnished, and so far you 
link yourself with degradation and guilt. A pro- 
fane man is an object of suspicion and dread. A 
profane youth, a candidate for ruin. 

Associated with profaneness, there is a species of 
vulgar wit, of gross and unchaste remark, common 
to places of public resort, and too often found in the 
more private walks of life. It leads to associations 
impure and debasing. To secure a chaste and un- 
tarnished reputation, let your conversation and your 
conduct be marked with purity. Avoid those re- 
flections and associations ; the indulgence of ro- 
mance and reading which so often discloses and 
conducts to those scenes, on which youthful, above 
all, female delicacy, should never look, and cannot 
look and remain unsullied. 

As another security of a valuable reputation, cul- 
tivate the spirit and lead the life of practical be- 
nevolence. I mean that charity which loves, and 
cannot but be loved ; that blesses, and is doubly 
blessed. A selfish, contracted, avaricious disposi- 
tion, with no public benevolence of action, where 
God has given the ability, such a character is placed 
with thieves, drunkards, and murderers, in the Bible, 
and stamped with meanness and disgrace by public 
sentiment universally. Nature, in her rich and un- 
bounded profusion, preaches benevolence, and man, 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



49 



in the infinite multiplicity of his wants, demands it: 
and he who has not the spirit and the habits of be- 
nevolence, has not and cannot gain that reputation 
which all must prize and should desire. A man of 
unyielding avarice, whose hoarded wealth no press- 
ing want can gain, whatever he may be besides, has 
a most unlovely character in the eyes of all men ; 
while he whose known benevolence leads every soli- 
citor of charity to his door, enjoys a reputation 
worth more than gold, and a pleasure pure and 
more ennobling than wealth can buy. 

"Of all God made upright, 
And in their nostrils breathed a living soul, 
Most fallen, most prone, most earthly, most debased, 
Of all that sold eternity for Time, 
None bargained on so easy terms with Death. 
Illustrious fool! nay, most inhuman wretch! 
He sat among his bags, and with a look 
Which hell might be ashamed of, drove the poor 
Away unalmsed, and midst abundance died, 
Sorest of evils! died of utter want." 

The influence of education and intelligence will 
be reserved for future consideration. 

Respect for religion and reverence for the Bible, 
are pre-eminently essential to a valuable reputation. 
There is often a want of reverence for the Bible and 
the scenes there developed, among those of mature 
years, more often among the young, at which good 
sense and piety revolt. Nothing but atheism can 
respect that man who does not respect and reve- 
rence the word of God. And shall it ever be said, 
that while the Mussulman will bind the Koran to 
his heart, and the Pagan press the Shaster to his 
bosom, the Christian, and he who in Christian lands 

5 



50 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



was born, shall trifle with the gospel of his Saviour, 
or sport with the sublime and awful teachings of his 
God and judge ? 

" Most wondrous book ! bright candle of the Lord ! 

Star of eternity ! the only star 

By which the bark of man can navigate 

The sea of life, and gain the coast of bliss 

Securely." 

Your reverence for the Bible should be followed 
with respect for that solemn subject of personal in- 
terest, which it so affectionately presses upon you. 
Let your character be what it may, from your heart 
you despise the man who dare oppose and ridicule 
the subject of true religion. He may be your as- 
sociate, you may even encourage his depravity, yet 
you despise him still. There is nothing which so 
sinks the man in public and in private estimation, as 
disrespect or opposition to the subject of genuine 
piety. With such a character, we expect the most 
unlovely features to be blended. There is too much 
in consistent piety, that ennobles and commands the 
admiration of the world, to allow reproach to be 
cast upon it with safety. Nor is this all ; you are a 
rational and responsible being, and here are found 
those vast and enduring subjects that stand con- 
nected with your rational and responsible immortali- 
ty. And can you be wise and wisely respected, 
with no personal regard for the Being that made 
you, the object of your creation, and the endless 
realities which lie before you . ? Neglect these, and 
are you w ise : Leave these neglected, and are you 
not strangely deranged f Will you not bear the 
harge, and justly too, of folly, of madness, and of 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



51 



crime ? What will man, angels, and God, say of 
you ? To have lived and lost the great object 
of life, and forfeited eternal glory ! Is it wise, is it 
safe, is it honourable ? With such a reputation 
would you wish to live ? With such a character 
would you die ? With such a character can you 
endure the coming scenes of the judgment and its 
endless issues ? 



52 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



CHAPTER IV, 

Personal obligation, or Duties which the Young' owe themselves, con- 
tinued. — 1. To seek and secure happiness in the. way prescribed by 
infinite wisdom. — 2. To become acquainted with truth and duty, and 
to have moral and religious principles established. — 3. To be con- 
stantly improving. — 4. To avoid an excessive desire for wealth. — 
5. To avoid extravagance and a restless desire for society. 

It has been remarked, that man is the maker of 
his own fortune. And while the Pagan refers his fail- 
ure and affliction to the influence of blind fatality ? 
the Christian may attribute too much to the arrange- 
ment of Providence, and refer the failure of his 
hopes and the wasting of his happiness to the sove- 
reign pleasure of God, rather than to his own im- 
providence. Under this impression he may seek, as 
he imagines, pious resignation, rather than renew 
his exertions to repair his hopes and restore his loss. 
While it is the dictate, both of reason and religion, to 
recognise the overruling providence of God, in all 
the events of life, it is our imperious duty, to make 
that life subservient to the great ends for which it 
was given. This is no more our duty than it is 
our happiness. There are many who so entirely 
mistake both the nature and the claims of religion, 
that they would make it to consist in painful austeri- 
ties and in reluctant sacrifices. But if we have 
rightly judged, virtue and religion are designed to 
make us happy, not only in the hopes of future 
blessedness which it imparts, but also in the new as- 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



53 



pect and value which are given to all the possessions 
and relations of life. 

" Religion does not censure or exclude 

Unnumbered pleasures, harmlessly pursued, 

To study, culture, and with artful toil, 

To meliorate and tame the stubborn soil ; 

To give dissimilar, yet fruitful lands 

The grain, or herb, or plant, that each demands; 

To cherish virtue in an humble state, 

And share the joys your bounty may create; 

To mark the matchless workings of the pow'r, 

That shuts within its seed the future flow'r ; 

******** 

To teach the canvas innocent deceit, 

Or lay the landscape on the snowy sheet. 

These, these are arts pursu'd without a crime, 

That leave no stain upon the wing of Time." 

The Bible, most assuredly, urges virtue and holi- 
ness upon us, by this strong motive, the love of per- 
sonal enjoyment ; and 1 have no hesitation in urging 
upon you the duty of regarding your individual 
happiness. It is an imperious duty which you owe 
yourself. The principles of our nature exhibit pe- 
culiar susceptibilities for enjoyment and undying as- 
pirations for its attainment ; while God has present- 
ed objects innumerable to impart pleasurable emo- 
tions to every faculty of our being. He would seem 
to court and brighten the eye by the ten thousand 
beauties thrown around us : charm and enchain the 
ear by unnumbered sounds of sweetest melody, and 
in the rich profusion of his bounty, meet and satisfy 
each earthly want, and give pleasure in meeting its 
necessity. It would appear that God had consulted 
man's happiness in every thing, and especially in 
those unnumbered sympathies of soul, that fit him 
5 # 



54 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



for social life and the employment of an intelligent 
being. If your Creator, in nature, in providence, 
and in grace, would make sensitive creation happy, 
and in this happiness reflect his own glory ; it is 
your privilege and duty to elevate and refine your 
pleasures, in strict accordance with the economy and 
providence of God, Your enjoyment in this world 
lies, indeed, within prescribed bounds, for it is es- 
sential to your own happiness, that you secure the 
pleasure of others. Happiness here, has also its 
prescribed methods of attainment, and it is your 
duty and your privilege to seek and secure its ad- 
vancement, in the way and within the limits pre- 
scribed by infinite wisdom ; and in fact, the misery 
of man lies in seeking pleasure in methods vain 
and forbidden, and beyond those bounds where plea- 
sure never lies. It is your misery and your guilt, 
that yo.i close those ten thousand avenues of plea- 
surable emotion which God has formed and furnished 
with a rich supply for innocent indulgence. 

If God would make you happy, it is a duty you 
owe both to him and to yourself, to reap rich and 
permanent enjoyment. Self-love is not selfishness, and 
it will be no impeachment of the benevolence of piety, 
that man in his purest and holiest state loved and 
sought enjoyment. And I would have you feel that 
the burdens beneath which you groan, and the 
anxieties of your hearts reflect upon the purity of 
your character, as well as upon the benevolence of 
God. You owe it to him — you owe it to yourself, 
to tread in those paths which are pleasantness and 
peace. I would impress upon you the duty of re- 
solving on being happy even here ; amid all the 
clouds and storms of life, resolve to he happy, not 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



55 



in cold indifference to sorrow, in philosophic apathy, 
but in virtuous living, in benevolent desires, in calm 
submission to the will of God, and in the hope of 
that rest which remaineth for his people. Let the 
anxieties of life, the pressure of its cares, the deep 
gloom that may settle upon your heart, and the 
bondage of fear, all remind you of error and of 
guilt. Let it turn your eye and your footsteps back 
to God, and bind your heart to him, in keeping 
whose commandments there is great reward. Think 
not that you are offending God, in securing happi- 
ness, in that path his wisdom points out before you. 
It is your duty. And if miserable here, and lost here- 
after, you are self-injured and self-destroyed. 

Another duty which you owe yourself ] is to become 
acquainted with truth and your relative obligations; 
to have your moral and religious principles fixed, 
and your rules of action settled. There is, indeed, a 
proper and laudable freedom of mind, holding our- 
selves prepared for new impressions of truth and 
duty ; but this is not that mistaken policy, falsely 
called liberal and rational thinking; but it is what 
may exist, and does exist with fixed and immutable 
principles of moral obligation. There are grand 
and leading principles of truth upon which all use- 
ful investigation depends. Ultimate facts, facts 
which we find existing and original; the data upon 
which we plant our feet; from which we start in all 
our useful investigations. These are what I mean 
by principles of immutable truth and duty. On 
these you should not be wavering and unsettled, but 
firm and immoveable. Why do you ask ? Because 
they are not subjects of human decision; not of 
reasoning, but of faith, of implicit confidence. As 



56 



DUTIES OF THE YOUiNG. 



an intelligent and moral being, much more as a sin- 
ner, you are always in danger of error and obliquity 
in life, and as the guardian of your own mind, 
morals, and habits, it is your duty to secure yourself 
in the permanent belief of truth, and in the path of 
unerring rectitude. These are demanded at every 
step, and you are a debtor to yourself, if you secure 
them not. These lost, you live in eternal insol- 
vency, and forever charge upon your own stupidity 
your infinite loss. Fixed principles of truth and 
duty are the grand preservatives of life, for they are 
always at hand to settle questions of doubt. To 
these you may recur, not as to your own opinions, 
but as to fixed principles, and feel secure. By leav- 
ing these unstudied and unsettled, you are thrown 
unsuspecting, and susceptible on the broad and ever 
agitated sea of questions and conflict, with nothing 
to guide and control. And though you may start 
cheerful and confident, you are soon wrecked and 
ruined. 

There is no necessity for the lamentable diver- 
sity of opinion, instability of sentiment, and ha- 
rassing uncertainties that crowd around you. It 
all arises from neglecting first and immutable prin- 
ciples. And with the word of God before you, 
with creation and providence to fortify the divinity 
of its origin, and the applicability of its precepts, 
you are false to your own best interests, to your own 
reputation for judgment and discretion, if you do 
not become early established in your principles of 
truth and duty. 

It is also your duty to be continually advancing on 
these fixed 'principles of truth and moral obligation. 
Forever active in the character of your being, in 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



57 



thought and feeling, are yon to remain on the same 
spot, or to travel in the same unbroken circle ? Are 
you not be u nd to advance, to improve, to drink 
richer draughts of heavenly wisdom, and lay 
broader plans for useful action ? Will you live to- 
day, as you have lived ; know no more, and do no 
more? An-intelligent and moral being, destined for 
eternal progression, and make no advancement! 
Under all the enkindling inspirations of truth, and 
the imposing march of providence, make no im- 
provement ! Is this wise ? As a responsible being, is 
it safe ? Is it just to yourself? I ask, not in reference 
to piety, which demands unceasing progress, and 
unceasing toil for perfection in righteousness; but I 
ask in reference to every pursuit in life, proper and 
profitablefor man. Does not duty to yourself demand 
constant and rapid advancement? Any youth not in 
the march of improvement, sinks in value, and for- 
feits that high regard which every man of honoura- 
ble feeling ought to claim. Think not of settling 
in the occupation you may have chosen, of gaining 
your education, of having secured your profession, 
and then merely to float along with the mass of so- 
ciety. The professed student should never live 
without application ; the professed labourer without 
industrious toil ; the professed christian philanthro- 
pist without aspirations and efforts for holiness and 
an expanded sphere of charitable action. Every 
man, in that department which he has selected, in 
justice to himself, is bound to advance and improve, 
This, is what makes truth so enchanting in its con- 
stant developments; brightens and strengthens the 
energies of life, and renders most sacred the un- 



58 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



numbered ties of moral obligation which bind us to 
society and to God. It keeps us from lassitude and 
torpor of mind and moral feeling ; from that sinking, 
misanthropic wretchedness and barrenness of virtue 
and spiritual life, which are alike destructive of our 
happiness here, and of our prospects for the future. 

While I would impress upon you the duty of con- 
stant engagedness in some valuable pursuit or useful 
study; the duty of reducing to constant practice 
the principles of truth and of obligation, I would at 
ike same time caution you against an excessive desire 
of becoming rich. This is the error of our country, 
and peculiarly the error of our age. It is fearfully 
arresting our improvement, both in intellect and 
morals. Wealth is more highly valued and more 
ardently sought, than mental elevation and moral 
greatness ; and its inordinate desire is the almost 
entire destruction of personal enjoyment and of social 
usefulness. Wealth even in its most ample resources, 
imparts neither mind nor moral goodness. " Riches 
do not always make rich." Do not flatter your- 
selves that the restless desire for wealth, is the same 
as habits of industrious application to useful labour 
or professional engagements. If you will analyse 
the passion, you will find that it has its foundation 
in the pride of the human heart ; in the envious 
spirit of rivalship; in the cruel propensity to rule 
and oppress. It is a painful passion. You know 
not now, how it robs life of its sweetest pleasures ; 
the mind, of its repose and profitable reflection ; the 
heart, of its benevolent and pleasurable sensibility : — 
how it endangers honesty ; strengthens envy and 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



59 



rivalry ; and, at last, brings those miserable passions 
of avarice, whose preyings on the soul are death. 

" On its altar is sacrificed ease, peace, 

Truth, faith, integrity; good conscience, friends, 

Love, charity, benevolence, and all 

The sweet and tender sympathies of life ; 

And to complete the horrid, murderous rite, 

And signalize their folly, men offer up 

Their souls and an eternity of bliss 

To gain them what? an hour of dreaming joy ; 

A feverish hour that hasteth to be done, 
And ends in bitterness of wo — " 

It is this passion of which I speak, that is arrest- 
ing so early the study and improvement of our 
youth, rendering them restless and impatient, and 
hurrying them into the active pursuits of life, where 
are required mental resources and strength of inte- 
grity, which all the years of youth should have been 
employed in acquiring by useful study, by mental 
and moral discipline ; and which, when acquired, 
will carry up into every department of life, an influ- 
ence which is more than wealth ; which will adorn 
the man of every calling, and which, if directed to 
that end, will give him, in a country like ours, all 
the wealth he can rationally desire, and teach him 
how to employ it wisely. He that hasteth to be 
rich, is not wise. Broad schemes of worldly wealth, 
too early and injudiciously laid, are filling our world 
with poverty, crime, and misery. While the first 
and leading object of your heart is icealth, let me 
assure you, my young friend, your life will not be 
dignified, virtuous, nor happy. 

I would not have you, on the other hand, over- 
look or undervalue the means of improvement and 



60 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



usefulness, which the possession of wealth will give 
you. I would not even check your eager pursuit 
for worldly gain, when you have become fitted by 
education and moral character, for its safe and wise 
direction : 1 would equally dissuade you from entire 
indiffere. ee to its attainment, and from habits of ex- 
travagance in its expenditure. The pride of show, the 
splendour of Ih ing, the pampering of vitiated passion, 
are as much the errors of our age, as the ruling 
and the restless desire of gaining the means of their 
indulgence : and the history of multitudes may be 
written in one briefrecord; a passionate resolution to 
be rich, splendid ignorance, profligate extravagance, 
undignified povert}', and a disgraceful end. 

While it is your privilege and duty to acquire 
riches, for the purpose of practical benevolence, to 
which I have already urged you, it is equally a duty 
to yourself to suppress that pride of life, and profuse 
extravagance, which so painfully marks the history 
of our age. I mean those lavish expenditures, which 
return no substantial good to you, and which 
impart no such benefit to others, as will leave you 
the privilege of pleasurable reflection. A change 
may await you. Let not the day of misfortune 
point you back to that wasteful profusion, which 
hastened on your ruin. Prepare not for those una- 
vailing regrets, and painful reproaches ; painful, 
because just and unavailing. Extravagance may 
induce all this, and with it, the misery of those 
habits which demand indulgence, and which your 
misfortune and bankruptcy deny. Not only so, 
but you may be doomed to meet the just reproaches 
of that community on whose earnings you so extra- 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



61 



vagantly lived ; and pained by widows' wants, which 
you have caused ; and stand at last by all condemn- 
ed, for want of providence and honesty. 

Let this be your principle ; do that ; indulge so far 
and no farther : so live and so appear, if otherwise 
consistent, as shall most contribute to success in 
honest and laudable pursuit, and give you the widest 
range of influence in doing good. All beyond this, 
call it extravagance, or what you please, will stand 
a proof of vanity and pride, and pass to your dis- 
credit. 

I have but one brief consideration more to lay 
before you at present, as an imperious duty that you 
owe yourself. Avoid a restless desire for society* 
Have your hours for retirement, silence, study, and 
reflection. It was no unwise injunction of a dying 
father to a profligate son, to spend each day, one 
hour, alone. And it was no unmeaning declaration 
of Thomas aKempis to an inquirer: 

O, where is peace ? for thou its paths hath trod ? 
In poverty, in silence, and with God. 

And a greater than he, has said. Commune with 
thine own heart and be still. 

" A soul serene, and equally retir'd 
From objects too much dreaded or desir'd, 
Safe from the clamors of perverse dispute, 
At least, is friendly to the great pursuit ." 



G 



62 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



CHAPTER V. 

Personal obligations or duties which the young owe themselves, eon-' 
tinued. — 1. Respect for public opinion. — What is implied in respect 
for public opinion. — 2. The duty and importance of selecting proper 
associates. — 3. The duty of being prepared^ for the vicissitudes of 
life. . 

To secure the respect of others, and to be useful 
in life, you must cherish proper respect for public 
opinion. This is a duty which you owe yourself. 
I here introduce a subject, which is often improperly 
understood. By respect for public opinion, I do 
not mean that you should, of necessity, adopt it, 
and be borne away before it, but that you should 
have regard to it and act in view of it. Nothing- 
will be more destructive to your influence and use- 
fulness, than to become indifferent to public opinion 
and to act irrespective of that opinion. Your 
object, as a member of the vast community, is, or 
should be, to derive all the good you can, and to 
impart all that salutary influence which lies within 
your power. You hear it often said of some — and 
it is said and heard too. perhaps, with commenda- 
tion — " they are perfectly indifferent to public opi- 
nion — have no regard for what others think or say — 
they are original characters — have dignity and for- 
titude enough to stand alone." I can never hear 
such remarks without recurring to those two sound 
maxims, which you all may have met : " He that 
thinks the world can live without him, is unwise, 
and he who thinks that he can live without the world, 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



63 



is a fool." An original character! independent! 
no respect for the opinions and habits of others ! 
then flee society, retire from the companionship of 
man ; 3'ou are wholly unworthy their respect, and 
worse than useless. You may live on their indul- 
gence, and at their expense, but in no way contri- 
bute to the public good. 

Do you ask, what is proper respect for public 
opinion ? I reply, it is not necessarily to suppose 
that public sentiment is correct. It is not blindly to 
sanction what it would advocate. Nor is it to fall in 
with public opinion and comply with its long esta- 
blished habits of feeling and action. It is not to 
court, flatter, and obsequiously caress, each and 
every department of life. It is not to adopt the 
maxim of false politeness, and make yourself at 
home and on a level with every one you meet, and 
•every circle into which you fall. 

There is a certain undignified obsequiousness, a 
condescension to weakness and sin, to gain and en- 
joy public favour, which good sense and enlightened 
policy abhor. That this ranges far and wide, and 
too often influences the conduct of public political 
men, is too obvious to deny. Over these, scurrility 
and prostituted sentiment have unlimited control. 
This is indeed respect for public sentiment, but 
the contrary of that which I would enjoin. 

There is another submission to public sentiment 
to which I would allude. A disposition to allow 
public evils to exist, from the fear of arousing popu- 
lar indignation in attempting their correction. — 
These evils abound among us ; the depraved and 
abandoned feast and fauej) like vampires, on the 



64 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



blood of virtue, and we make an annual sacrifice 
to these cannibals, in the ruined habits, blasted for- 
tunes, and lost souls of many a youth that might 
otherwise have adorned society and blessed the 
world. This is not respect for public opinion, it is 
a slavish fear of the influence and malignity of de- 
graded and worthless men, united, perhaps, with the 
dread of incurring the imputation of becoming the 
officious conservator of other men's morals and 
prosperity. Under this false respect for public sen- 
timent, evils are left to grow, and spread, and fasten 
themselves on the bosom of the community, which 
ought to arouse the indignation of every virtuous 
citizen, and prompt to remedial efforts from all. 

Respect for public opinion does not imply that 
you should make no efforts to alter and improve it. 
It is not perfect and changeless. But respeet for 
public sentiment, when correct, does demand a con- 
formity to it, on your part, when such conformity 
does not involve the sacrifice or dereliction of prin- 
ciple. Do not, for the sake of private opinion, or 
the pride of consistency, tenaciously cling to your 
own opinion and pursue your own way, because 
they are your own, when harmony with public feel- 
ing and action would be no other sacrifice for you 
than your own views and customs. Opposing 
others and rejecting their sentiments, when principle 
and virtue does not demand it, is unwise and- undig- 
nified. In this changing world, changes do not 
imply instability and fickleness of character, but 
more often a becoming regard for public improve- 
ment, and an evidence of our own advancement tft 
knowledge. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



65 



Respect for public opinion, implies that we do not 
overlook its existing character, in all our efforts to 
influence and improve society. We must study the 
character of public sentiment, and meet it in the 
way, best calculated to improve it, if wrong. Some- 
times that sentiment is such, that a bold stroke may 
be given and an amazing change be wrought in an 
hour. More often, it is such, that we must act 
through remote and unsuspected channels, and bring 
our influence, to bear with modest and mild sway 
over more distant evils, that we may ultimately 
reach and remedy the disease, that preys on the vi- 
tals of the community. It is one of the uniform 
principles of Providence, that great moral causes 
and changes are gradual in their growth, and gene- 
rally slow in reaching maturity, in proportion to the 
importance and permanence of their character. 

Respect for public opinion implies, that we should 
not do unnecessary violence to public feeling; 
There is much improvement lost and many valuable 
revolutions defeated forever, by an utter disregard 
of the finer feelings of men, as well as of their 
ignorance, interests, and long-settled habits of 
thought and action- We often attempt too much 
and accomplish nothing ; but a miserable and ruinous 
reaction ensues, and the very evils which we sought 
to remedy, recoil upon us with double power. 

As youth, just rising, to assume the control of the 
public interests, you will be required to influence 
and lead its opinions. You are not to take it for 
granted that these are in all respects right, and of 
course will continue so, and to yield yourselves up 
to their sway. This, though too common, is not the 
6* 



66 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



respect for public sentiment which is due from yon. 
It is not respect for yourselves, but a guilty sacrifice 
of private judgment and character to the vitiated 
propensities and habits of men. As citizens of a 
country, whose hope and safety is in virtue and in- 
telligence ; much more, as Christians, you ought to 
see public opinion correct and sustained in enlight- 
ened, holy, and dignified elevation, and give to it 
the sanction and support of intellectual eminence 
and moral purity. 

I hope that you understand what I mean by re- 
spect for public opinion. It is such an accommoda- 
tion to the views and habits of men ; such a regard 
for their feelings and interests, that you may gain 
their confidence, do them the most good, and most 
powerfully aid in correcting and sustaining pure the 
public sentiment on all subjects of interest and duty. 

It may be proper for me in this connection to 
remind you of another duty which you owe yourself, 
in the selection of your associates in life. Let them 
be such, and only such, as will add to your reputa- 
tion and usefulness. Make them the vicious, the 
idle, the profligate, and impure, and though an 
angel yourself, you soon sink to their level, and par- 
ticipate in all the guilt and meanness of their charac- 
ter, and serve but to enchain them in the bondage of 
their loved corruption. We are not, in our best 
state, so free from moral contamination that we can 
breathe the air of guilt and pollution, and not soon 
etnbed, within the soul of virtue itself, the disease of 
disgrace and death. Let the idle, the vicious, the 
impure, and profane, be seen as welcome visitors 
at your home, or as your accustomed associates, and 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



67 



by the immutable laws of affinity and moral influ- 
ence, you will not only be viewed by others as they 
are viewed, but you will soon become what they are, 
vicious, idle, profane, and impure. I would bar 
and drive from my door and society such a man, as I 
would expel a pestilence. You are more safe with 
the robber prowling around your dwelling than with 
such. Your virtue, purity, peace, reputation, and 
religion, are all gone, if your associates are not 
good. 

A conscientious regard to this duty, will render 
an additional suggestion respecting the love of 
games, wholly unnecessar}'. An indulgence in 
these, ought not to be expected in an age distin- 
guished for refinement and the rich sources of intel- 
lectual improvement. The associations to which 
they will lead you, their uniform and degrading in- 
fluence, in vitiating sensibility and destroying time, 
are such, that the slightest allusion to them, in this 
place, is all that is needed. As beings of thought 
and feeling, accountable for time and destined to 
eternity, you will not waste probation, and thus 
incur the frown of God. 

The last duty which I would impress upon you, 
is, to be prepared against all possible vicissitudes. 
You live in a world of changes, and each is leading 
on that infinitely momentous change, that fixes your 
eternal state immutable forever. Here is a duty 
that presses upon you. Be prepared for changes. If 
not, when they come, and come they will, your com- 
posure is gone, your fortitude lost, your spirit 
broken, the man sinks to a child, and the Christian 
is obscured in the weakness of desertion and the 



68 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



misery of unbelief. Thus, in a moment, one soli- 
tary revolution may blast your happiness and repu- 
tation, and leave you a mere wreck of mental and 
moral being-, incapable of repair and unfit for action, 
in any future effort of usefulness or duty. 

What, if from want of industry, you are unfitted 
to labour, when the changes and the chances of life 
have stripped you of support, and like the unjust 
steward, you can neither dig nor beg ? Have you 
not injured yourself? What, if when placed where 
mental energy, intellectual force, and resources are 
demanded, you are found deficient? Who must be 
reproached ? Who, accused of neglected duty, but 
yourself? If void of moral honesty, when trust 
would, but cannot be reposed ; if in the hour of need, 
by indulgence of intemperate desires, you find your 
frame weakened and wasted ; your mind en- 
feebled and impaired ; your character and credit 
gone — a wretched bankrupt in body, mind, morals, 
and estate, yourself becomes the greatest creditor — 
the greatest sufferer. And if friends desert you 
then, you have no friend in God ! Sickness invades, 
and lays your outward frame in the dust, no inward 
man to rise in renovated energy on its ruins. When 
death, with untried pains and terrors, and eternity 
spreads its changeless scenes ! O ! to be unpre- 
pared ! What robbery, cruel robbery, of thine own 
eternal good ! Endless reproaches shall thy lost 
spirit give, and that pure sense of just revenge, God 
in thy creation gave the soul, shall react upon itself, 
the worm that never dies ; and with this, the sad re- 
flection, that your blasted reputation and blighting 
influence still live and will live forever, and two 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



69 



worlds claim, as their possession, and pass their sen- 
tence on your character, The one will write your 
epitaph here, the other your destiny hereafter, Your 
eternal spirit shall review the one and anticipate the 
other in the endurance of a just and righteous re- 
tribution. 



70 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



CHAPTER VI. 

On the social constitution and mutual dependence, laying the foun- 
dation for the best interests and happiness of man, at the same time 
exposing him to danger when abused and perverted. 

It is one of the brightest ornaments of virtue, and 
chief excellences of religion, that no private duties 
can be enforced which are inconsistent with extended 
and universal good: none, but what in their full re- 
cognition, contribute to social and general prospe- 
rity. Let all men rightly regard, and properly meet 
their private obligations, and social and universal 
peace are secured. 

You will not forget, that true virtue and religion 
is the cheerful discharge of duty to our God, to 
each other, and to ourselves. Having presented 
those obligations, under which you are laid, to secure 
your individual interests, I would call your attention 
to your social relations, to those unnumbered ties of 
mutual and reciprocal obligation, which are thrown 
around you. 

The first grand principle to which I ivould 
allude, is that article of your constitution which ut- 
terly forbids the possibility of secluded and restricted 
influence. Such is your constitution, and such the 
arrangements of Providence, that man cannot, if he 
would, retire and secure his happiness in the shades 
of the recluse. Let him attempt it, and from his 
solitary retreat, he sends out a silent and a sickening 
influence, and while he pretends to despise the social 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



71 



constitution, he shows the most convincing proof of 
its value. And though he would boast of his inde- 
pendence, he is driven from his solitude, by wants 
which his own hand cannot supply, even from the 
riches that Providence may have poured around 
him. There is more in the social constitution, than 
we are accustomed to imagine. This is one of the 
first strong elements of our nature, and upon it endless 
and amazing interests rest. You know that the 
Bible is full of it ; and did you ever think how the 
analogies of nature, exemplify and enforce this ele- 
mentary principle of Inspiration ? 

There is nothing recorded here but what has some 
semblance, almost its counterpart around us; so 
that the eye may read, as actual in illustration, the 
very principles that inspiration has taught. The 
social constitution and mutual dependence, are al- 
ways illustrated in nature and Providence. There 
are no worlds, and no natural elements, but act and 
REACT upon each other. While sustained by the same 
unseen power, they aid in mutual regulation. So 
bound by mutual and reciprocal dependence, is this 
great universe of nature, that, as one faint and soli- 
tary star shall drop from the sky, the great sun itself 
is moved, and the whole creation of worlds feels 
the shock. Descend from those spheres that know 
no change, but in ceaseless order, and mark this 
same principle of social and dependent life in the 
variegated productions of nature that adorn our 
globe. The mountain is crowned with lofty oaks, 
its declivities adorned with cedars, while the fragile 
willows weep at its base. The lilies cluster in our 
meadows, and violets bloom together. There is 



72 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



mutual dependence of species in inanimate nature, 
all over the world ; so that not one blade of grass 
springs forth, not a flower blooms, no fruit ripens, 
not] a tree spreads, but you anticipate its species 
clustering around it. The same is seen in every 
department of the kingdom of animal nature, where 
are arrangement and classification, while the grand 
principle of social and dependent life, is in each 
and every species, fully, and often tenderly illus- 
trated, from the winged insects of the air, the herds 
that feed on the plain, and the leviathans that play 
amid the icy mountains of the northern sea. 

From this general principle, illustrated in nature, 
and peculiarly applicable to your own species, arises 
your obligation as intelligent and moral beings, and 
upon it, rests the whole structure of human society, 
even in its religious and holy communities. God, 
by your nature, has bound you together. You are 
dependent upon each other, and you are acting upon 
each other, with prodigious and permanent influence. 
There is not one man among us, however, high or 
low, rich or poor, weak or mighty, who, for one 
solitary day, is independent of the community. He 
may feast on his redundance, but the weary hand of 
the labourer supplies it. He may repose in lordly 
consequence, and yet his ear listens, and is charmed 
or pained by the slightest breath of popular opinion, 
that reaches his splendid retirement. So, there is 
no one among us who does not have his share of 
influence, and may see its reflected lines of virtue or 
vice, living and lasting as the human soul. 

The second general principle, if I may call it 
such, I wish you to regard, is the certainty of the 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



73 



appropriation of this mutual dependence and social 
being, to purposes of good or evil. 

Your intellectual or moral energies are in un- 
broken wakefulness, in ceaseless activity ; and under 
that grand principle which is before us, the principle 
of social life and of mutual dependence, within each 
and every department of life, you are starting new 
springs of influence, creating and causing more and 
more happiness or misery, more good or evil, 
every hour. From that universal and unceasing 
dependence which leaves exempted no man in life, 
arises the power and opportunity to aid and encou- 
rage honest and laudable industry, and to show the 
amiable virtues of kindness and condescension. 
Thus, each man may exhibit virtues peculiar to the 
sphere in which he acts, and from that vast division 
of labour, which this state of mutual dependence 
demands, every man may find some department 
suited to his faculties and habits. Yet, from the 
pride, folly, and sin of human nature, this principle 
of dependence is often abused and converted to an 
engine of evil. From this, when perverted and 
abused, arise the broad divisions of life, engendering 
haughty distance and oppression on the one hand ; 
envy, discontent, revenge, or servility, on the 
other. And it is doubtful which class is most pro- 
ductive of good or evil, or which ultimately bears 
the heaviest burden of actual and permanent oppres- 
sion. 

The same is true in regard to the social principle. 
It results in good or evil, on a broader scale than 
had otherwise arisen. There is a countenance, a 
support, a stimulus to energy and action, by the 



74 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



congregated sympathies, passions, and powers of 
men, which had slept unknown, but for the force 
of the social principle. So much does this contribute 
to virtue or vice, happiness or misery, that in all our 
conceptions, we at once associate intelligent and 
moral beings, clustering together in the enjoyment 
of good or endurance of evil, till heaven itself is 
formed in our minds, one vast assemblage of angels 
and redeemed men, and hell is roused to its enkin- 
dlings of anguish by its crowded millions of fallen 
spirits and abandoned souls. In the result of this 
social affinity, there arises an accumulation of 
strength, by concert and concentration, to accom- 
plish purposes of good or evil, that otherwise would 
never be attempted. 

Hence the hazard and ruin of virtue in crowded 
masses of irreligious men, which so soon turn the 
debased portions of our cities and crowded towns to 
receptacles of all unrighteousness. It is this that 
makes our places of public resort, so profane, intem- 
perate, and vulgar. Virtue in a crowd of guilty men, 
is never safe; and vice, in all its horrid forms, springs 
as by cultivation. Scarce an}' congregations are safe, 
where some object of virtue has not caused the as- 
sembly. Man, by the law of his being, must have 
good and laudable objects in view, or he is at once 
engaged in evil. Hence the maxim of virtue and 
safety: " always have something good to do." — 
Losing sight of this wise maxim, almost all the va- 
luable associations of our earth, from time to time, 
have fallen degenerate, debased, and ultimately 
subverted the cause they were at first designed 
and adapted to promote and benefit. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



75 



National festivities, with their various arrange- 
ments of civil and religious service, under the 
theocracy of Israel, became an offence to God, and 
a curse to the people. And with all the light that 
five thousand years has shed on the world, with the 
entire change of our religious economy, there are 
those, who see not yet the folly of ecclesiastical 
festivals, beyond what the simplicity of the Gospel 
allows : and the Gospel recognises none but the 
Sabbath, and such occasional services as add to the 
value of this day. 

National anniversaries, rising as the grateful ex- 
pression to God, for civil mercies, with all the pro- 
priety and patriotic glow of their origin, have early 
become converted to extravagance, bacchanalian re- 
vels, intemperance, and debauchery; while each 
recurring da}' must meet the sacrifice of an hundred 
lives. 

It is thus the patriarchal circle, that called in 
the numerous offspring, as olive plants around the 
parental board, has been made to subserve the 
extravagance of fashion, ruinous indulgence, and 
early death. And I will add, too, it was once, that 
the very assemblage of professed disciples, at the 
table of Christ, perverted that sacred scene to pur- 
poses of festivity and feasting. 

There is nothing that can save fallen and imper- 
fect men from speedy degeneracy, but having con- 
stantly in view, some virtuous and ennobling design : 
some good to be secured. Man must have his eye 
on virtue, or he is at once in vice : starting on er- 
rands of good, or he has already accomplished evil. 

Nor should we overlook, that it is from this 
same social principle, that families, societies, and 



76 DUTIES OF THE YOtTNGf. 



congregated men, may secure such an amount of 
good, and so widely influence the world. Break 
up these, and one half of our happiness and useful- 
ness is gone in a moment. There is a kindling of 
sympathy in doing good, as in evil ; a stimulus and 
concentration of energy in the cause of virtue, as in 
deeds of darkness. Union is strength, in each and 
every department of life ; and hence, one solitary 
family, well arranged in the order and beauty of 
religious life, stands a strong barrier to the vicious 
propensities of a whole community ; and its door 
closed against the wicked and abandoned, is a re- 
proof to guilt, and to all who regard not virtue. A 
church, in her solemn assemblies, for the high and 
sacred purpose of advancing in knowledge and 
holiness, is not only the ornament, but the safety of 
a people. 

Hence, associations for benevolent efforts, are fast 
filling the world with the grace of God in Jesus 
Christ, while isolated and individual exertion, has 
left it in sin for ages. The congregated hosts 
of God's elected sons, shall gain an everlasting 
triumph in the fast approaching conflict, the great 
battle of the Lord Almighty ; and heaven become 
as transcendent in glory as in holiness, from the thou- 
sand times ten thousand, which no man can number., 
who shall surround the throne of God and the 
Lamb. 

I would have you improve this subject, by a serious 
consideration of your incessant action, for good 
or evil, for sin or holiness, for heaven or hell. Your 
private character is breathed through all the walks 
in which you move, and you stamp the features of 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



77 



your immortal nature deep on unsuspecting souls. 
Thus you fast weave into your eternal destiny the 
elements of joy or sorrow. 

Will you not then consider and re-examine your 
character, your conduct, your employment, your 
influence ? See what you should correct, and 
what you should do, to make mankind better and 
happier ; and thus impart to the community a more 
lovely aspect for peace, virtue, enjoyment, and 
religion ? 

There is criminal indifference to the great truths 
and realities of moral influence, which must be 
broken. There is vice, which might and must be 
checked. There are associations, in which some of 
you may be engaged, where your highest inte- 
rests are concerned, which you are bound to see dis- 
solved. You are responsible, not only for the evil 
you may cause, but also for that which you might 
prevent. You are not enough awake to the nature 
and dangerous tendency of sin and those associations 
of life, to which you and those coming after you are 
exposed. Your silence and unexerted influence to 
break these associations, sanction their conti- 
nuance, and you behold multitudes going down 
to the grave beneath a frightful accumulation of 
evils, which you have it in your power to prevent. 

The city and the country are both alike swept as 
by a pestilence. Giant wickedness is rising and 
reigning with unblushing effrontery, borrowing their 
sanction from foreign degeneracy and lordly debase- 
ment, and stimulating their energies by the fair fruits 
of our young and beautiful country. The high 
places of our land, are becoming despoiled of their 

7* 



78 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



primitive dignity ; the robe of state is losing its in- 
fallible testimony for excellence ; and those halls 
which once were proud of their congregated intelli- 
gence and virtue, the splendour of their eloquence, 
the glory of their promise and their hopes, are alrea- 
dy convulsed by party conflict ; marred and debased 
by the low scurrility of party invective. A govern- 
ment of law is calling back her promise of protec- 
tion : shorn of the majesty of her statutes, she has 
already failed to redeem her pledges. Licentious- 
ness, arrogant from the relaxed state of public mo- 
rals and insubordination, kindling the base and brutal 
fires of envy, revenge, and plunder, has challenged 
the arm of justice, mocked the power of moral 
right, laid the ban of fiendlike proscription on 
personal liberty, driven the jurist from the bar, laid 
the sanctuaries of God in ruins, and loudly pro- 
claimed through crowded cities, your laics are pow- 
erless and your safety ended. A nation, long proud 
and at peace, now trembles for her honour and her 
life ; not from foreign violence, but from domestic 
degeneracy, popular insubordination and licentious- 
ness. And where is there hope ? Where the pro- 
mise of security ? In our youth alone. In their in- 
telligence, their virtue, their united resolution, to 
repair what is broken, to restore sullied dignity, and 
to defend the legacy of their fathers, bought by blood 
and bequeathed by prayer. This duty, this honour, 
devolves on you. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



79 



CHAPTER VII. 

On the relation of children to parents, and the duties which that rela- 
tion imposes. — 1. Filial obedience. Whence this duty arises, and 
what it implies.— 2. Filial affection and gratitude. 

From the principles of social and dependent na- 
ture, spring all our relative duties here on earth. 
And when we remember how endlessly diversified 
those relations are; how, in countless directions, we 
send out pleasure or pain, that at once, in other 
souls, rouse new and still more fruitful sources of 
joy or sorrow, to act on other and more numerous 
spirits, their opening new fountains of joyous or 
of grievous influence, there is no calculation of 
man's power of doing good or evil at every breath ; 
good or evil, which eternity alone can estimate. 

Look at your relations. Parent and child — bro- 
ther and sister — husband and wife — master and ser- 
vant — employed and the emplo}?er — guardian and 
the protected — teacher and the instructed — the sub- 
ject and the ruler — with those countless relations of 
friendship and interest, that rise and run through 
social life ; each claiming new and peculiar duties ; 
each admitting and rousing new and peculiar influ- 
ences for good or evil. 

As an extended illustration of these various con- 
nexions, and the duties which they involve, would 



so 



DUTIES Of THE YOUNG. 



be more tedious than profitable, I shall confine 
myself only to those branches which 1 consider most 
for present benefit, glancing, perhaps, at some others, 
and leaving them for private reflection. 

I have said, that one great branch of religion lay 
in the proper discharge of duties which we owe to 
our fellow-men. These duties grow out of the re- 
lations which we hold to them — relations which God 
in the constitution of nature has formed, and such 
as may arise from the circumstances of life. 

The first, and perhaps most interesting of all 
our natural relations, is that which ice hold to our 
earthly parentage. 

Unconscious months are slept away on the bosom 
of maternal tenderness, alike ignorant of the pains 
and watchings, the tears and cares, that infant being 
and unnumbered wants create. The first relation 
you hold is here. The first knowledge you have, is 
of parental goodness. The first earthly claims rise 
here. And none who have never felt a mother's 
watchful, sleepless tenderness, nor a father's anxious 
care, can know any thing of these imperious claims, 
and what sacred duties they impose. 

As here is your first relation, the first command- 
ment of God which speaks of our earthly duties, re- 
spects the duties of children to parents. Honour thy 
father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon 
the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 

While there is a species of love, which we are to 
cherish towards all the world ; that kind charity which 
thinketh no evil — that benevolence which would do 
good to all men, as we have opportunity ; there are 
affections more tender and strong, consistent with 



DUTIES OP THE YOUNG. 



81 



these, and which rise far superior and come nearer 
home ; and in all their private claims, entrench not 
at all on the social system, and abridge not at all 
our offices of kindness to others. It was a beautiful 
declaration of ethics, " that heaven has adapted the 
vividness of our affections to our power of being 
beneficial ; the love being most lively in those moral 
connexions in which the opportunities of usefulness 
are most frequent, and capable of being most accu- 
rately applied in relation to the peculiar wants of 
him who is to be benefitted."* And no relation has 
God made so near, so tender, and so affecting, on 
which so much of human usefulness and earthly hap- 
piness depends. 

"Who framed a whole, the whole to bless, 
On mutual wants, built mutual happiness; — 
So from the first, eternal order ran, 
And creature linked to creature, man toman." 

Here lies the foundation of human society ; and 
man gives promise of future good, as he early re- 
spects the duties of his filial state. 

I shall briefly allude, and in a very partial man- 
ner, to some of the duties which children owe their 
parents. These arise from the dominion and neces- 
sary authority of parents, and from their unwearied 
kindness. 

The first duty is that of filial obedience. 
You arc cast from the hand of your Creator, 
on the arm of parental care, the most helpless, 



* Brown's Philosophy. 



82 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



the most dependent of all creatures ; and from 
this very feebleness and helplessness, must be obe- 
dient. Your life depends on yielding to parental 
authority ; and when from the waywardness of fallen 
nature, that supremacy becomes restraint, sometimes 
painful coercion, the filial duty to obey is still im- 
perious. You have neither the wisdom, experience, 
nor power, to make your way in safety, where ma- 
turer years should guide and guard. 

At first, obedience must from necessity be entire, 
and afterwards vary from this, only as circumstances 
may demand, from parental infirmity, or the dis- 
tance at which you become removed from that salu- 
tary advice and wholesome restraint, which it is 
alike your duty and your interest to regard. 

The foundation of this obedience, lies indeed in 
nature, arising from the necessary exercise of pa- 
rental authority, yet it should, in its voluntary exer- 
cise, be prompted by love, and continued by grow- 
ing respect and confidence. We ought not to be 
compelled to consider filial love and continued re- 
spect as duties to be urged upon us. I had rather, 
in honour to our nature, and respect for our educa- 
tion and religious culture, regard these as certain — 
as almost incorporated with our being : for to one 
who had not these deeply imbedded in his soul, I 
should address all motives to obedience in vain. In 
such a soul, there can be no kind sympathies left to 
arouse and direct. 

Filial obedience implies an early regard for pa- 
rental pleasure. This virtue consists, not in yielding 
to absolute force, not in complying, where resistance 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



83 



would be violence to prescribed rules of domestic 
order : but it lies, in foreseeing and finding happi- 
ness in acting in accordance with parental pleasure, 
and in not arousing parental anxiety, by asking 
that indulgence which the desire of a parent's heart 
would deny. 

Were I to present filial obedience in its most per- 
fect form and most engaging features, and to which 
I would stimulate you all to aim, it should be that 
beautiful example "that leaves not the parent the 
power to know that it is required to govern — that by 
anticipated obedience, take away the prerogative 
to command." 

I would say to every child, learn what parental 
pleasure is, and meet it unexpressed. Never be 
guilty of taxing the utmost limit of indulgence, 
and of labouring to widen the bounds of grati- 
fication. In all cases of doubtful duty, virtue 
will incline you to extend the sphere of implicit 
obedience, rather than to narrow its bounds. By 
this filial obedience, you add virtue and dignity to 
yourself, and reflect a dignity on those that bore 
you : while want of this obedience, shows with con- 
clusive evidence, that you neither love, respect, nor 
value father nor mother, and thus show a destitu- 
tion of natural and moral principle. And you roam 
from home like the brute, from whom the attach- 
ment of instinct has died away, and cast back upon 
the spot where you were nurtured, reproach and 
contempt. You disgrace your origin, and boldly 
declare, there is not virtue and dignity enough to 
respect. You declare, rather, that you have not vir- 
tue and sense enough to estimate and respect either. 



84 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



I would not confine filial obedience to infancy 
nor childhood ; nor do I feel myself as addressing 
children in infancy. There is a species of filial 
obedience on which my mind is fixed, that is co- 
existent with parental being and parental memory. 
There is something extremely unlovely, unkind, and 
disrespectful, in that young man, who, starting from 
his father's home, and all the tender movings of a 
mother's heart, and there, leaving his last respect 
for parental authority. Though he has gone to 
build a home of his own, rather than feel and act 
like a prisoner that has fled control, I would see 
him go out with hesitancy and tears, not so much 
from choice as from duty, and often return, with 
gratitude and affection, to cherish and continue a 
mother's love, and ask, in filial and affectionate sub- 
mission still, a father's counsel. Next to the subli- 
mities of true religion, there is nothing more enno- 
bling and virtuous. 

And she, who seems most happy in new found 
attachments, and hastens, as in untold pleasure, 
from a mother's tender heart and last .embrace, is 
unfit to be a wife, and unworthy to have a friend. 

There are no virtues left in those youth who car- 
ry not to the very graves of their father and mother, 
love and respect for their authority, and who make 
not the memory of their pleasure to live and reign 
over them, when they are dead. 

I urge this subject, not from those considerations 
with which it is usually enforced. For myself, I feel 
that there is danger, in this day of enterprise and 
hazardous experiment, of starting too early on our 
independent way, and throwing off too soon, the 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



85 



salutary restraints of parental admonition and pa- 
rental power, and of feeling that we have outstrip- 
ped the wisdom of age. You will pardon me when 
I say that there is among us, too much of a disposi- 
tion to turn from the wisdom and experience of age, 
and to attempt a new and nobler course than our 
fathers have trod. If this arose from a loftier spirit 
of enterprise, from more skill and energy in plan- 
ning and in executing, and held out fairer prospects 
of speedy and ultimate success, with all the dangers 
that attend it, I would not throw in one solitary 
check. But who are prepared to claim more enter- 
prise than laid out the country you inherit? Where 
are wiser men in council — bolder and safer in execu- 
ting valuable purposes, than those whom we succeed? 
Take what department you will, pecuniary pru- 
dence, intellectual sagacity, civil policy, or political 
honesty, w ho is prepared to come forward and claim 
superiority of rank? For one, and I place myself in 
the wide range of tl lis condemnatory declaration, 
I honestly believe that we have degenerated, in 
many of the most valuable principles of intellectual 
and moral worth, and lost immensely by so eagerly 
thrusting off our fathers, to assume their responsi- 
bility, and reap those honours which mature r wisdom 
claims, and to bear those burdens a stronger arm 
cannot sustain. I would say, above all, let us value 
and respect mature wisdom ; profit more by the ex- 
perience of others ; regard parental authority, and 
cheerfully walk in paths which our fathers so wisely 
and so safely trod ; and by whose wisdom were 
framed those salutary institutions under which we 
live. In all your ways, though in distant and 

8 



86 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



dignified elevation from parental home, look back 
again and again, and if you have any thing virtuous 
and noble in yon, you will find it strengthened by 
grateful recollections of the spot where its founda- 
tion was laid. Honour thy father and thy mother, 
by bowing to their commanding influence, even to 
your graves. Thus shall you be loved and lamented 
by filial affection, when you are dead. 

II. The other comprehensive duty which you owe 
to parents, is kindness and love, filial affection and 
gratitude. There is a tender ministry in offices of 
kindness, in which, virtue is never more lovely, im- 
bodying a sense of gratitude, calling to mind the 
long past favours of parental care, and giving the 
highest excellence and commendation to the most 
important and charming scene that this earth can 
present. " How delightful is the spectacle when 
amid all the temptations of youth and beauty, we 
witness some kind and gentle heart that gives to the 
couch of the feeble, and perhaps of the thankless and 
repining, those hours which others find too short for 
the successive gayeties with which an evening can be 
filled ; and that prefers to the smile of universal ad- 
miration, the single smile of enjoyment, which, after 
many efforts, has, at last, been kindled on one soli- 
tary cheek."* 

After all the kindness we can feel and express — 
after all the care we can bestow on the wants and 
weakness of our infirm and aged parents, we never 
can return one half of that which we have soliberal- 



* Brown's Philosophy. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



87 



\y received. For with all the wants and weakness 
of infirmity and age, they never can lie so helpless 
on our arm as we have rested on theirs, nor press upon 
our hearts, with that untold solicitude, with which 
they watched our infant days. Yet, with this kind- 
ness and care, we have made the most acceptable 
return we can render, and nothing is more grateful 
to the infirmities of age ; and nothing more effectu- 
ally commands the admiration of the world. "The 
hero of heathen poetry, is made most noble, in bear- 
ing his aged father from the burning city. And 
what can be more unkind and unlovely than a son 
or daughter unkind, and showing negligence to an 
aged father or mother. And how beautiful a scene 
was exhibited in thepalace of Pharaoh, when Joseph, 
the prime minister of state, led in a poor old shep- 
herd to the presence of the king, and before all the 
iords of the Egyptian court, introduced the decrepit 
and care-worn pilgrim as his father. Who, after 
looking at this, will be ashamed of a parent, because 
clad in the garb of poverty ? What a glory did that 
one act draw around the brow of Joseph ? The 
lustre of the golden chain, that hung from his neck, 
was dim compared with the brightness of this deed, 
and the chariot in which he rode, in imperial pomp, 
before the people, raised him not so high as that emi- 
nence he held when he stood before the monarch of 
Egypt, with the patriarch of Canaan leaning on 
his arm."* 

I cannot do any thing like justice to this subject, 



V&raejs' Farcil}- Monitor. 



88 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



and I will leave it for your private consideration, 
with the outlines of a chapter on its importance from 
the author of the " Family Monitor, or Help to 
Domestic Happiness," a work of recent origin, 
which should be read, and read often, by every 
member of every famity. 

Bringing to mind the sacredness of this relation, he 
enjoins love and respect, with a free effort to do all 
in our power to please and make our parents happy — 
to desire their company and their good opinion. 
Next, we should reverence and obey them. Con- 
sult them in all cases of private and personal inte- 
rest, ancTimitate their good example, and, above all 
things, always treat them with kindness. As motives 
to these sacred duties, he adds : Observe how they 
are enjoined in the Bible. How they impart plea- 
sures to their infirm and aged subjects. How they 
promote, not only their happiness, but your own 
pleasure, reputation, and interest ; and, as adds Dr. 
Dwight — no small measure of prosperity seems ordi- 
narily interwoven with a course of filial piety. The 
comfort which it causes parents, the harmony which 
it produces in families, the peace which it yields to 
the conscience. To these it adds the approbation of 
all — -a lasting reputation. Beyond this it associates 
itself with temperance, moderation, and sobriety, 
which give a solid foundation for health and long 
life. And these are not all its blessings. I do not 
say, that miracles are wrought for its reward ; nei- 
ther will I say, that purer gales breathe to preserve 
its health ; nor that softer suns arise, or more timely 
rains descend, to mature its harvests ; nor that more 
propitious winds blow to waft its ships in safety. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



89 



But I will say, that on the tide of providence, multi- 
plied blessings are borne into its possession, at sea- 
sons when they were unexpected, in ways unforeseen, 
and by means unprovided, which are often of high 
importance; which, altogether, constitute a rich 
proportion of prosperity; and which, usually, ai\i 
not found by persons of contrary character. At 
the same time, those who act well as children, al- 
most, of course, act well as men and women; and 
thus have taken, without design, the scion of happi- 
ness from the parent-stock and grafted it upon other 
stems, which bear fruit abundantly to themselves. 
Here, in the language of poetry s 

*' It revives and bears 

A train of blessings for their heirs."" 

It is also never to be forgotten, that filial piety, if 
derived from an evangelical source, is entitled to the 
peculiar favour of God in the present world, and to 
the everlasting blessings of the world to come. 

" Honour thy father and mother." Here stands 
the first command with promise; a promise to what ? 
filial respect — a duty which both nature and interest 
enjoins. From whom? God himself, who holds all 
nature and grace tributary to his truth and love. 
And what is promised ? Length of days in the land 
which the Lord thy God giveth thee. A life replete 
with every needed good. By heaven's unerring 
hand the pathway of your prosperity is drawn, and 
you are pointed to the riches of earth and the 
glories of heaven. 

8* 



90 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

On the relation of brothers and sisters. — Its effects on parental reputa- 
tion and happiness. — t. Duties of this relation. — 2. To cultivate the 
fraternal affections, and to promote each others happiness. — 3. Mu- 
tual respect and effort for each other's improvement. — 4. Kind atten- 
tions — 5. Special and distinct duties of brothers. 

I HAVE often read with peculiar admiration, the 
remark of Seneca, that " it is not a blessing to live 
merely, but to live well" 44 Life in itself," he adds, 
"if life without wisdom be a blessing, it is a blessing 
that is common to me with the meanest reptiles ; 
and he who gave me nothing more than life, gave 
me only what a fly or a worm may boast. If* in 
the love and hope of virtue, I have employed that 
life which my parents conferred on me, in studies 
that were to render me more noble in the sight of 
heaven, I have paid back to them more than I have 
received. My father gave me to myself rude and 
ignorant : I have given him a son of whom it may 
delight him to be the father."* 

if a heathen philosopher could say, 44 to live 
merely is not a blessing, but to live well " how much 
more should you advance on the principles of such 
a philosopher, in rendering yourself noble in the 
sight of heaven ? To live well, should be your 
high and holy ambition. To live well, is to live for 
others, for God, and for eternity. 



* Seneca Do Beneficiis. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



91 



I have spoken of the happiness and honour which 
you may confer upon your parents, by a life of in- 
telligence and virtue. And I know of no lovelier 
scene on earth, than the fraternal circle around the 
bed of the aged patriarch, giving to his last hours 
the consolation of their mutual endearment, and re- 
ceiving from his lips the last benediction. Here are 
the fruits of his life, the joys of his heart, and the 
hopes of his eternity, as reflecting the blessing of 
God upon his labours, and disclosing the promise of 
heaven, when the resurrection shall restore these 
dissolving, } et endeared relations. 

The beauty of the domestic constitution is never 
more clearly seen, and the perfection of parental and 
filial excellence more delightfully presented, than in 
the harmony of the fraternal society. That parental 
influence and discipline cannot be radically defec- 
tive, where the fraternal obligations are discharged 
and peace reigns among the heirs of the same na- 
tures and the same home. Here is the sunshine and 
summer of domestic happiness, the very harvest of 
earthly enjoyment, and the most engaging spectacle 
of the social economy, save that tender scene, which 
closes, like a summer day, the parental journey un- 
der the care and kindness, the watchings and sup- 
port of filial love. These are like the autumn 
clouds upon the evening sky, spreading their rose- 
ate hues of beauty and of grandeur, where sinks 
and dies away the setting sun, as in a bed of glory. 

Charity, peace, and friendship, are no where so 
amiable and engaging, as among those "whom one 
roof has continued to shelter through life, and whose 



92 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



ashes are afterwards to mingle in the same sepul- 
chre." This was the sentiment of the Roman ora- 
tor, and more beautiful still is the language of the 
Christian poet. 

" How pleasant 'tis to see 

Kindred and friends agree ; 
Each in their proper station move, 

And each fulfil his part 

With sympathizing heart, 
In all the cares of life and love. 

" Like fruitful showers of rain, 

That water all the plain, 
Descending from the neighbouring hills, 

Such streams of pleasure roll, 

Through every friendly soul, 
Where love, like heavenly dew distils." 

The subject to which I direct your attention is 
the duties of brothers and sisters, 

I. The first and most obvious duty, is to culti- 
vate the fraternal affections, and to promote each 
other's happiness. The peace and mutual pleasure 
of the inmates of the same home, and children of 
the same family, cannot be too much studied, nor is 
any labour too great to secure them. This is a sa- 
cred duty. Indifference to the interest and pleasure 
of those so near you, whose very form and features 
are but a reflection of your own, is melancholy proof 
of a selfish spirit, and the want of every virtuous 
and noble feeling, Through days and years, you 
are, of necessity, mingled together; and the amount 
of peace and joy, or of discord and sorrow which 
this union creates, is almost incalculable. And what 
is more becoming, more lovely, than the union of 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



93 



those little hands, and the mingling of those young 
hearts, who have been cradled on the same bosom, 
and are still sheltered D3 7 the same roof? And what 
so honourable and engaging in after life, as brothers 
and sisters still affectionately united ; most interested 
in each other's peace, and most happy in each other's 
pleasure ; who, to the love of nature, instinct, and 
the nursery, have added the stronger and sacred 
bond of matured affection, and whose honour, and 
happiness, and safety, lie in continuing and strength- 
ening it in riper years? 

There is something always affecting in parental 
care and in fdial love, and yet there is an inde- 
scribable interest thrown around fraternal affec- 
tion, which often surpasses both, and which bor- 
rows from both a peculiar sacredness. As pa- 
rental care must soon cease, and filial love find its 
objects no more on earth, the fraternal relation, 
where mutual peace and happiness are studied, ex- 
hibits the fruits of the one, and leaves a broad and 
beautiful sphere for the exercise of the other. And 
whoever beheld a family where this peace and hap- 
piness were sought, without an assurance of its con- 
tinued prosperity and blessing, when parents shall 
be no more : and though left tender and young, in 
their mutual love, the parental blessing lives, and 
smiles the mercy of God. Let brothers and sis- 
ters study peace, and promote, as their own, each 
other's happiness, and so live, that their purest and 
highest enjoyment shall be found in each other's so- 
ciety. 

There is more than language can describe, in 



94 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



brothers treading, hand in hand, the path of life, 
and a sister resting in confidence on a brother's 
smiles, and leaning for protection on a brother's 
care. 

" As arm in arm the forest rose on high, 
A lesson gave of brotherly regard ; 
And on the mountain brow exposed, 
Bearing the blast alone — the ancient oak 
Stood, lifting high his mighty arm, and still 
To courage in distress, exhorted loud." 

Nor should this interest and Jove be permitted to 
die away in after years ; it should be cultivated with 
increased care, as new and more distant relations 
are formed, and fears, perhaps, begin to rise, that 
your love and interest may become estranged from 
those whose happiness is in your hands. That 
sister is unworthy a husband's confidence, who can 
erase from her heart the warm and affectionate 
remembrance of brothers left at home ; and that 
brother is a brute, who in a husband's love, can 
forget a sister's want and tenderness. 

In these separations, which must occur in life, do 
not lose, nor fail to express, mutual and continued 
remembrance. Forget not that you are brothers 
and sisters still, and that with all the connexions 
you may form on eaith, you can form no more of 
these Often exchange the kind expressions of 
continued interest and affection. Pledge and ex- 
tend aid and relief where they are needed, and carry 
even to your graves, the tender remembrance, that 
you are members one of another. United by nature, 
be united by grace in the sympathies of a sanctified 
and spiritual fraternity. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



95 



Thus you promote mutual happiness, and show to 
the world that you are susceptible of benevolent and 
virtuous emotions. Where there are brothers and 
sisters, it is melancholy to see them always separate 
and alone ; it shows a want of the finer feelings of 
our nature, and of those delicate and affectionate 
sensibilities, which are the surest pledges of future 
dignity and decorum. All this may now appear 
unimportant, yet the eye of an intelligent community 
here reads more of character and prospects than 
you can imagine. One of the finest writers on do- 
mestic happiness and the fraternal duties, says : 
" Seek your happiness in each other's society." 

"What can the brother find in the circle of dissipa- 
tion, or amongst the votaries of pleasure, to be 
compared with this ? What can a sister find, amidst 
the concert of sweet sounds, that has music for the 
soul, compared with this domestic harmony ? Or, 
in the glitter and fashionable confusion, and mazy 
dance, compared with those pure, calm, sequestered 
joys, which are found at the fireside of a happy 
family ? What can the theatre yield, that is com- 
parable with this ?"* 

" O, evenings, worthy of the gods, exclaimed 
The Sabine bard; O, evenings, I reply, 
More to be prized and coveted than yours, 
As more illumined and with nobler truths, 
That I, and mine, and those we love, enjoy : 
Cards were superfluous here, with all the tricks 
That idleness has ever yet contrived 
To fill the void of an unfurnished brain ; 
To palliate dulness, and give time a shove." 



* James' Family Monitor. 



96 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



There can be no spot more sweet, profitable, and 
enchanting-, than that domestic circle, where wise 
and affectionate parents witness the fruit of their 
labours, and the result of their pains, in the love and 
interest to make happy, which pervade the hearts 
and actuate the lives of brothers and sisters. They 
now most amply repay for the labour and the care 
bestowed, and give the pledge of mutual love and 
protection, when parental kindness and care shall be 
suspended by death. 

II. Mutual respect should always be cherished and 
manifested by brothers and sisters. There should 
not be the formality of ordinary and ceremonious 
intercourse ; and yet there should be no approxima- 
tion to vulgar and degrading address. While there 
should be freedom from the " cautious timidity of 
suspicion," and the coarseness of indelicacy and 
rudeness, there should be the " politeness of good 
manners, blended with the tenderness of love." 

Mutual obligation should be felt for each other's 
improvement, not in the follies of fashionable life, 
but in those engaging manners of modest and re- 
fined deportment ; that intellectual richness, and 
those resources of useful knowledge, which raise and 
expand, far above the gay throng of fashionable 
pleasure ; and which give the pledge of substantial 
value and useful action, when the season of youthful 
gayety and dissipation shall pass away. 

Kind attentions, those nameless and countless 
offices and tokens of regard and affection, which at 
the same time manifest and elicit the best feelings 
of the soul, should never be forgotten. Mark that 
young man with suspicious jealousy, who is happier 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



97 



any where than at home, and who seems more joy- 
ful with others than his own sisters, and prefers any 
other to lean upon his arm, than her, whom, as an 
orphan daughter, he is bound to protect. The kind 
feelings of a brother's heart, are a stranger to his 
bosom ; the nobler feelings of a man he never knew. 
And he who will cast forgotten, a sister, from his 
kind regards and tender care, will as soon throw 
from his affections and support the wife of his youth. 

And she who finds no pleasure in the circle of 
home, nor in the smiles of paternal fondness, loves 
not most a brother's company, may have the spright- 
liness and cheerfulness of virtuous affection, and 
may bloom in all the beauty of her sex, yet her 
bosom is as cold and sterile as the snow-drift, of 
every finer feeling, and her heart will be an eternal 
stranger to pure and permanent affection. She who 
cherishes not a sister's love, warm and active, has 
not the virtues that can be prized and trusted in a 
wife or mother. 

There are duties peculiarly appropriate to bro- 
thers, which demand a special and distinct notice. 
You should remember that your sisters are frail, 
tender, and susceptible, and generally, unsus- 
pecting. And they are most happy, because 
they are unsuspecting, and hence they are most ex- 
posed to danger. They are too affectionate and 
confiding to suspect, and too late in learning the 
meanness, the baseness, and duplicity to which they 
may be exposed, as well as the degrading and 
beastly passions with which our sex are often cursed. 
The first they know, is, from a husband's lips or a 
9 



93 



DUTIES OF THE YCUXG-. 



husband's baseness, known too late to defend and 
save them. 

Shall I say, then, acquaint them with all that is low, 
impure, and vulgar, profane and intemperate, de- 
grading- and debauched, in the habits of men ? To 
this I hardly know what to say. Should it be done, 
it would, or ought to convulse many a splendid 
circle. And yet they should not be left wholly igno- 
rant of it. They should be so far informed of its 
existence, as to be guarded against its influence. 

It is the imperious duty of a brother to stand 
aloof in personal purity and private worth, and 
guard a sister's interest as his own, turning her eye, 
her every step, and, above all, her heart from that 
society where intelligence, virtue, and purity, are un- 
known. It is your duty to be yourself intelligent, 
virtuous, and pure, lest your sisters cease to despise 
that in others which they see in you. Then spurn 
from your society those whom you know as idle, pro- 
fane, and impure, and seek to rid society of these 
invaders of innocence and worth. Say not, there are 
no such to be found obtruding themselves into the 
walks of virtuous society. There are such, and 
their numbers are fearfully great. You are bound 
to drive them from you, not simply as you regard 
your own good, but more specially as the wakeful 
guardians of a sister's safety, happiness, and honour. 
Let them never find an introduction to your home, 
nor in society, presume to approach one so near and 
dear to you, as a sister should be. Those you in- 
vite beneath your father's roof, your sisters must and 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



99 



will respect, and kindly receive, for your sake if not 
for theirs, and in that necessary attention and respect, 
may open the way for unhallowed influence and ul- 
timate ruin. And she who once adorned the highest 
circle of her sex, becomes disappointed, dishearten- 
ed, and ruined, perhaps a wretched vagrant, lost to 
virtue and to hope. This is* not the suggestion of 
fancy, but the record of fact repeated again and 
again. In no way contribute to those acquaintances, 
associations, and alliances, where want of industry, 
intelligence, and moral worth, gives such fearful evi- 
dence of early disappointment and ultimate disgrace. 
Guard your homes, the pure circle of paternal 
interest and affection, from the inroad of unprincipled 
young men. By all that is sacred in a brother's 
honour; by the virtue, and the eternal good of your 
sisters, I call upon you to rid society of abandoned 
men. Give them no introduction to those whom 
you are bound to protect. Go, even beyond your 
home, and do good to all the tender and unprotected. 
Think of the thousands who have fallen, rather been 
torn from the heights of society, early to die in the 
depths of misery and guilt : some from the splendid 
walks of intellect and fashion, and even from the 
house of peace and holiness. Above all things, do 
not compromise a brother's character, by sustaining 
or contenancing those whose baseness prolongs that 
trade of robbery from the ranks of innocence and 
virtue, which, were it half told, would exceed the 
horrors of the slave trade, for its numbers, and out- 
weigh it for its misery ; and which, in defiance of in- 



100 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



telligent virtue, and the denouncements of the word 
of God, is bearing before it millions of victims. 

It should be your study and your pleasure to 
make your sisters love home and useful recreations ; 
and to stimulate them in their pursuit of useful 
knoicledge, become yourself the companion of their 
evening hours— tell them all you know : thus give 
them a love for learning; and hand in hand with 
3-ou, they will pass onward in the path of pleasure 
and of duty. There will arise a refinement of feel- 
ing, and an elevation of pleasure, which no resort 
beside can give. Here the cares of more extended 
responsibility cannot intrude, while all may be so 
pure and ennobling, that it needs only the adornment 
of piet\' to impart perfection. Thus shall your sis- 
ters become your equals and your pride ; by their 
virtue, their intelligence, and loveliness, illustrate 
the wisdom and virtue of that fraternity which has 
blessed them. 

These duties are attended with corresponding 
obligations on the part of sisters. To them, I would 
say, be kind, amiable, affectionate, and attentive to 
your brothers. Always welcome their return to 
your common home with unaffected pleasure. Let 
them see and feel that their happiness is identified 
with yours — their prosperity and advancement your 
stud} 7 and delight. Make them love modesty, intel- 
ligence, and virtue, by presenting that deportment 
of retiring delicacy, which unsuspected gains con- 
trol ; that knowledge, which unconscious, cannot but 
instruct ; that sterling virtue, which frowns in silent 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



101 



dignity, and makes the lewd and lawless tremble 
and retire. 

Make your brothers happy at home, without the 
aid of those blighting amusements, which neither in- 
struct nor improve, but which suspend thought, de- 
stroy sensibility, and endanger virtue. Let me add, 
what has been seen true, in lamentable experience, 
cause your brothers to love the card table of the 
drawing-room, and they will soon desert you, for 
the resorts of open and destructive gaming, and re- 
turn no more, but to reflect on your error, and to 
reveal their own degeneracy. Learn what recrea- 
tions are safe at home, by following out the natural 
associations which they hold abroad, and avoid all 
such, as in their legitimate and ultimate influence, 
may impair that modesty and virtue, which you 
prize in domestic life. 

Show an interest in learning what your brothers 
know and may have to tell you. Make them love to 
read and learn ; by thus giving a charm and use- 
fulness to constantly increasing knowledge. Render 
their hours of recreation so pleasant and profitable, 
that recreation shall endear your society to them, and 
give the charm of mutual refinement to mental and 
moral feeling. Be so virtuous, modest, amiable, and 
intelligent with them, that they never can admire 
and love where these unsullied ornaments of your 
sex are unknown. 

Be constant in your offices of kindness, and when 
they are sick and afflicted, be with them and more 
than kind. Thus you inspire them with respect and 
love for yourself, and command their admiration for 

9* 



102 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



your sex : and thus, too, you throw around them 
restraints, and enchain them by that influence which 
it is alike their interest and pleasure to regard. 

As sisters, you are bound to treat young men 
with utter abhorrence whom you know as unworthy 
your brother's society, and hazardous to his charac- 
ter. Never oblige him to accommodate you with 
that society which may injure him. 

When at home, let it be known that you prize a bro- 
ther's society ; and when abroad, that his company is 
the best, and that you had rather lean upon his arm for 
protection, than on a stranger's gallantry. And when 
he shall leave you for his studies or for life, follow him 
still with love, and all the expressions of a sister's grate- 
ful and affectionate remembrance. Let him know 
and feel, that in his heart you have a treasure stilly 
and in his new found home, more than an interest. 
And if called to go yourself, so leave your father's 
and your brother's home, that you may carry and 
continue a brother's love. While separate, and as 
often as you meet, cherish and strengthen those fra- 
ternal affections, which are the brightest ornament 
of domestic life, and the sanctified symbol of future 
glory. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



103 



CHAPTER IX. 

On the duties of the young in forming and sustaining the interest and 
reputation of the community. — 1. The immense influence which 
they exert. — 2. Their obligation to use that influence for the good of 
others. — The necessity of disunion and separate communities in 
past ages. — The remingling of the human family under the Gospel 
and the advance of society. — The increased necessity of intelligence 
and moral influence — with obligations to secure and employ it. 

While the word of God is so splendid and sub- 
lime in its doctrines and disclosures, as to enchain 
and overwhelm the most expanded mind, making 
angels to adore and tremble, at the same time it 
touches the most secret springs of the human heart, 
goes into the deep and silent recesses of human 
sympathy, and arranges, as with the hand of care 
and love, the smallest trifle that can influence the 
opening sensibilities of a child. And it is this, on 
the one hand, which ennobles its sublimity, and on 
the other, endears it to the soul. Thus it resem- 
bles its great Author, who is not only the mighty 
Sovereign of the world, encircled in the glories of 
eternal and uncreated majesty; but also that kind 
and parental being, always with each and every one 
of his creatures, however low, young, and despised. 
He lays his hand as much beneath the new-born in- 
fant's head, and wipes away the tear from the or- 
phan's eye, as he guards his throne amid the cheru- 
bim and hosts of light. The sun, he rolls in glory, 
and directs the falling of a drop of dew, 

M He gives its lustre to the insects' wings, 
And wheels his throne upon the rolling winds." 



104 



DUTIES OF THE YOUXG-. 



A right view, not only of this majesty and power, 
but of his diversified and minute care of distant and 
more diminutive creation, is happily calculated to 
inspire adoration for God and the gospel, and to 
secure love and confidence in the one, and an abi- 
ding interest in the other. 

This view of the gospel, shows that it has some- 
thing suited to us at all times ; that in the richness 
of its resources it comes home to our character and 
circumstances, and is able to meet our constant and 
returning wants. We have not to look away to- 
wards it, as distant and spiritual mysteries, but the 
kingdom of God is with us, and comes home to our 
hearts and lives, and speaks some salutary lesson to 
each sojourner below. 

I have made these remarks, to remind you that 
the gospel is suited to your situation and circum- 
stances, whatever they may be, and to every period 
of your life. 

We have considered the relation of brothers and 
sisters, with such special privileges and obligations 
as arise from that relation ; and also the duties of 
the filial state. My design is now, to consider the 
duties of brothers and sisters, not in relation to each 
other, but as the youthful members of society. 
Those obligations which devolve upon the young, 
towards forming and sustaining the still higher cha- 
racter and interest of man. 

I. The first point of consideration, to which I 
would call your attention, is that immense amount of 
influence which the young exert for the benefit or the 
injury of the whole community. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



105 



They form a generation of the most buoyant, 
active, and energetic character ; so stand between 
two other generations, that while they transmit or 
conceal the excellencies or defects of those who 
are dying away, they almost entirely mould the 
character and destiny of those who are rising into 
life. The youthful generation are, in fact, the de- 
positaries of the aged, and the almoners of the 
young. On you it depends, to decide what of the 
virtues and excellencies, or defects and errors, of the 
more aged, shall be transmitted to the generation 
which is to come after you. What you borrow from 
your fathers and incorporate into your character, 
will, in new and impressive forms, be brought 
to bear on xhe more youthful than yourselves. 
What you are, those who come after you will be, as 
to the essential features of moral feeling and moral 
character. While it is a fearful legacy which you 
inherit, when rightly received, it is an invaluable 
blessing, and the rich means which God has put 
into your hands, of doing good and preparing for 
heaven. 

Secondly. I wish to enforce the obligation under 
which you are all laid, to see this increasing influence 
well and widely directed. Never allow yourself to 
feel or to say, that you have no influence. You 
never lived, and never can live, without it. It 
springs constantly and powerfully from your very 
being ; and every hour you are drawing the deep 
line of everlasting character, on souls around you. 
Man gives not half so clear and decided his form 
and his features to his offspring, as he transmits the 
features and feelings of his mind. 



106 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



What influence, I ask, shall this be ; for 'good or 
evil, for happiness or misery, for heaven or hell ? 
This is the point I wish you to consider. 

I have already dwelt, at length on the duties 
which, as individuals, you owe to yourself. The 
grounds upon which these duties were urged, 
implies obligation to regard and seek the same 
honour and happiness in others, which we are bound 
to regard for ourselves. While there may be no 
selfishness, in the proper acceptation of that term, in 
seeking and securing our own good, there is nothing 
but selfishness, where the same motive, which led us 
to seek our private good, does not incline us to pro- 
mote the good of others also. 

God had some wise and benevolent design in 
forming our social constitution. He acts on no 
principle but of love. This constitution of social feel- 
ing; these principles of active and extensive influence, 
from the wise and benevolent character of God, 
could not have been given, but for the advancement 
of human happiness; to improve and bless those 
with whom you live. Certainly they were not given 
for evil. Their Author, whose great design is to 
bless, and their subjects, whose desires are all for 
happiness, hold you responsible for all that power of 
doiug good, which, from 3 0111* nature and relation, 
is intrusted to your hands. Transmit light or dark- 
ness, good or evil, from your fathers over upon the 
infant race, you ever must ; and which shall it be ? 
There is in man, and it is peculiarly so in the young, 
a susceptibility of improvement. He is capable, by 
$he aids of foreign influence? and from the constant 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



107 



development of his own resources, to advance 
rapidly in knowledge and in virtue. There is not 
only room for improvement, but a strong desire for 
it, where the powers and principles of nature are 
kept alive and in action. Let these powers sleep, 
or be unwisely active, and every thing in man is 
rapidly rushing to deeper disgrace and ruin. And 
it can scarcely be conceived, to what extent of bold 
and brutish depravity human nature will proceed. 

It is obviously our duty to seize these princi- 
ples, arouse and wisely direct them. To my mind, 
this appears to be the chief reason for our social 
constitution, and for our continuance here on earth. 

There is one thought I wish here to introduce. 
That mankind are depraved, inconceivably wicked, 
there is no room for doubt. How has this immense 
mass of moral, intelligent, and responsible beings 
been governed in this world, so that, with all these 
elements of sin, they have not continually preyed 
upon each other, and waged the mutual war of 
depredation and blood ? Such restrictions have 
been imposed as partially to accomplish this object. 
These restrictions have been the breaking up of the 
human family into separate and distinct communities, 
and throwing in between them such high, strong, and 
impenetrable barriers, as to forbid, and effectually 
prevent, social intercourse. Mountains divide, seas 
separate, unkindred languages, diversified manners, 
distinct and local interests, partialities and jealousies, 
have all been employed to keep mankind asunder, 
that they might not, in congregated masses, press 
each other, in cruelty, to death. You have but to 



108 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



refer to the confusion of tongues at Babel, and the 
wide dispersion of the human race, to see the con- 
firmation of these remarks. 

And you may have observed, that the most fruit- 
ful sources of evil, both in the natural and moral 
world, are also, when rightly regarded and employ- 
ed, the most fruitful sources of good. The very 
means of creating evil, may be the means of securing 
the most permanent benefits. 

I have said that it was the confusion of languages, 
and the wide dispersion of the human family, by 
which God governed the race of man for thousands 
of years. But what in modern times do we see ? 
Not the confusion of languages, but the mingling 
of all into one. Foreign and barbarous tongues 
are soon known. The Bible now speaks in almost 
every language, and you may reach and influ- 
ence every soul on the face of the globe. Social 
intercourse is rapid and universal. Oceans are tra- 
versed, deserts explored, and all, with rapidity and 
ease incredible, but for successful experiment. The 
whole human family may be said to be brought to- 
gether again. Mind acts upon mind. The corusca- 
tions of intellect mingle and brighten. Heart meets 
heart, and the energies of a world are awake, and the 
awakened energies of a world are concentrated. 
All those principles and powers are in close and 
powerful action, which, from the depravity of man, 
required God to confound their speech, and drive 
them asunder. 

The question now to be settled, is, what will be 
the result of these same principles and powers, in 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



109 



the hands of the present generations of men, so 
immeasurably increased, from the miserable herd 
that crowded around the tower of Babel ? And it 
is a momentous question. This reunion of human 
mind, and hearts, and hands ; this concentration of 
efforts and influence, is soon to be productive of 
immense good, or incalculable evil. That it is for 
good, I would seize the hope that prophecy imparts, 
and that providence sometimes faintly inspires. 
That it is for evil, there are some dark lines of in- 
spiration, and many a dreary scene of providence 
o make us fear. Will mankind feel their obligation 
to live for virtue and religion ? Will they seize 
these powerful auxiliaries, and enter with a vigorous 
hand and a virtuous heart into this broad field of 
moral interest and influence f Shall the intercourse 
of the world be that of intelligence, virtue, and re- 
ligion ? Such is the reunion and remingling of the 
great human family ; the open and active sympathies 
of all mankind, that an amazing result of intellectual 
and moral causes, must soon appear in those mo- 
mentous effects which will settle the destiny of un- 
numbered millions, for time and eternity. 

From these clear and unavoidable deductions, I 
would press the obligation upon every youth, to 
look, with personal interest, upon the aspect of 
the world; and I would call upon you to bring 
your influence on the side of intelligence, virtue, and 
religion. Uninterested and inactive you cannot 
stand. The mighty ocean of mind is agitated, and 
broad, deep, and rapid are the currents of moral 
feeling and action, and high roll the billows of this 
heaving sea. 

10 



110 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



In view, then, of your own personal responsibility, 
the best good of the community, and the salvation 
of a world, will you not aid directly and efficiently in 
the cause of intelligence, virtue, and religion? 

Society is, or ever should be, progressive in 
knowledge and virtue. Why should we recede in 
the scale of excellence, know less, do less, enjoy less, 
than those who have gone before us ? Shall we to- 
day, bring to no useful end the lessons of previous 
study; bury the new talents intrusted to our carer 
I ask, is it not a most melancholy and disgraceful 
reflection upon every youth, to tread in a path infe- 
rior in wisdom, worth, and moral influence, to that 
in which his ancestors were seen to move ? What ! 
will you degenerate in a day like this ? Know no 
more — know less — do no more — do less, than they 
who have gone before you ? While science, litera- 
ture, and religion, are so brightly shedding their 
glories around you ; while facilities unparalleled are 
before you, will you allow it to be said that you 
know no more, and do no more good than the ge- 
neration which is passing away ? See what they have 
done, and escape their follies and defects. See 
what they have done, and emulate their bright ex- 
ample. See what they have done, and surpass a 
hundred fold, their worth, and lead the way to no- 
bler and to brighter deeds of intellectual worth and 
moral goodness. 

This, as youth, you ought to do and may do. 
You have facilities which those before you never 
knew, or knew but to create them for you, when too 
late to employ them themselves. They explored the 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



Ill 



land for you to go in and possess it. They have 
swept away the wilderness and planted the fields for 
you to reap. They have wrought out the materials 
and the means of doing good, and left them for you 
to employ. A broad field opens for your benevolent 
action, which they were only permitted to explore. 
Now, will you enjoy, in inglorious, guilty ease, the 
fruits of their hard labour, and waste the facilities of 
their successful toils? Where is the youth, who con- 
templates what benevolence has done, what human 
ignorance and guilt demand, and will not be aroused 
to effort in the cause of God and eternal life ? Above 
all, where is the youth in this land, who can look on 
what has been done by those who have gone before 
him, and not be stimulated to do still more ? 



112 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



CHAPTER X. 

The duties which the yo ung owe to the community, and their obfig*- 
tions to advance the best interests of society. — By increasing its 
intelligence. — The relative value of intellectual attainments. — Liable 
to perversion. — What they have enabled man to accomplish when 
rightly directed. — Peculiarly needed at the present time. — In danger 
of being undervalued and neglected. — From reliance on facilities, 
rather than on application and mutual discipline. — Excessive de- 
sire for wealth. — Light literature. 

When we contemplate the result of any enter- 
prise, it is with approbation or reproof for those who 
have engaged in it. If the result is valuable, the 
effort that secured it is virtuous and honourable ; if 
degrading and ruinous, the expenditure and toil that 
achieved it, are low and disgraceful. In the failure 
of anticipated results, we are in danger of disho- 
nouring the adventurer, whatever were his motives, 
or the object which prompted exertion. While suc- 
cessful rebellion is a splendid revolution, defeat is 
treason. Yet failure in a virtuous cause is more 
honourable, than full success of unrighteous achieve- 
ments. 

As the last witness to the declaration of our inde- 
pendence died, we followed him to the grave with 
almost unmingled respect and veneration. And not 
for his private virtues alone, nor for his intellectual 
elevation, but for his actual participation of interest, 
life, and fortune in that enterprise, which more than 
fifty years have crowned with splendid results. The 
periling of his all, was moral fortitude, as well as 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



113 



political wisdom ; and the glory of the issue, is the 
sanction of his judgment and his virtue. 

I bring this illustration, to remind you how valu- 
able or ruinous results react on moral character, and 
often stamp with greatness or with meanness, with 
wisdom or with folly, the character of those who 
achieved them. 

You are yet to witness, and you are yet to parti- 
cipate in the grand results, the consummation of 
more than a kingdom or a world; in the grand re- 
sults of intellectual and moral character; the con- 
summation of the universal government of God over 
all intelligent and immortal beings; the results of 
which shall be endless and immutable; yourselves 
responsible parties in the achievement, and undying 
subjects of its issues. 

You cannot be unmindful, or if unmindful, you 
cannot be ignorant of this result, as developed in 
the word of God. Nor would we have you for a 
moment lose the deep conviction, that present cha- 
racter and conduct are fast settling the result as to 
your souls. The thought I would here enforce, is 
the probable, and, indeed, the necessary reflections 
of your own mind, and the just award, that all intelli- 
gent beings will pass to you as the final result of your 
fife, shall be settled by the verdict of the judgment. 
As you, and as others will view its virtue and its value 
then, so would we have you estimate it now. We 
would have you associate all your powers and facili- 
ties, all your privileges and duties, not with the low 
and unstable objects of sensuality, but with intellect 
and immortality. In the pursuits of this world, 
simply for its possessions and enjoyments, there is 

10* 



114 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



something as far beneath the dignity and destiny of 
your being, as it is contrary to the demands of vir- 
tue, and the law of God. The duties, which, as 
active and influential members of the community, 
you are bound to discharge, respect pre-eminently 
another and a higher state of being: a state of be- 
ing, where thought and feeling shall assume the go- 
vernment of the soul, unlimited in its expansion, and 
unclouded in its sensibilit}^ 

You will not forget the train of thought with 
which this subject was introduced — your necessary 
influence for good or evil — your facilities for extend- 
ed benevolence, and the account awaiting you at the 
bar of public sentiment and at the judgment. 

My object at present is to point you to some 
of the methods by which you may advance the inte- 
rests of society at large. 

First, by increasing its intelligence, 

I would place intellectual excellence where God 
has placed it, as one of the brightest elements of 
man's original creation, and one of the brilliant reflec- 
tions of divine glory. I would press the importance 
of its attainment on every one. I know the mind of 
man became dark as his heart was degenerate ; and 
it is equally true, that, as the heart is repaired from 
its ruins, the intellect becomes restored from its 
darkness and degradation. And the resuscitation 
and culture of intellect in man, is like the toil of his 
animal frame, converted by mediatorial mercy from 
a curse to one of the richest sources of enjoyment, 
as well as one of the strongest securities to virtue. 
We have too long overlooked the aid, which public 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



115 



virtue and evangelical piety may borrow from en- 
lightened and vigorous intellect. How an enlarged 
and well balanced mind adorns and ennobles man in 
every department of life. There is no occupation 
in which education may not be useful, and immedi- 
ately applied to purposes of private good and the 
public interest. We have, indeed, often seen minds 
richly stored, lofty and splendid, yet cold as a north- 
ern star ; others, fired by mad ambition, fitful, bla- 
zing, and terrific, as the ill-foreboding meteor, till 
the whole hemisphere of mind was lighted to a blaze, 
and the whole world bewildered and guided to 
infidelity and death. Yet after all, mental rich- 
ness, liberal and expanded views, are among heaven's 
inestimable gifts, and to cultivate the mind, one of 
the chief duties of man on earth. The perversion 
and abuse of intelligence, with its ruinous influence 
when perverted and abused, prove nothing against 
its value ; but, on the contrary, show its exalted 
worth, when wisely secured and rightly directed. 
There are no means, nor facilities for usefulness 
and virtue, but what are liable to perversion and 
abuse, and may be made to yield wide and durable 
evils. The gospel and the means of grace are pre- 
eminently such ; so is intelligence : yet who would 
neglect either ? 

We should, on the other hand, mark what enlight- 
ened and liberal views have accomplished in the 
world. What individuals have achieved by the force 
of intellect: how, unaided by fortune, unpatronized 
by favour, and almost unknown while living, they 
have started an influence which hallows, endears, 



116 



DUTIES OP THE YOUXG. 



and brightens their memory, raising them in intel- 
lectual glory, as the future guides of man. These 
men, though for a time unseen and unfelt, in the 
silent majesty of mind, rule the world, and leave the 
impress of their greatness on the imperishable monu- 
ments of its true dignity. Enlightened mind is 
influence : sanctified intellect is the glory and the 
safety of man ; and as these are undervalued and 
die away, every important institution is endangered, 
and the safety of a nation is invaded. I would have 
you review this world's history, and see how men 
of intelligence have brightened and blessed their 
country and the world. How they have intimidated 
the pride of power; overturned long established 
cruelty and oppression ; and achieved those splendid 
revolutions which have blessed, and are still blessing 
the world. How it was the force of mind, aided 
indeed by moral principle, which laid out your own 
country, and even in its youth, has made it the ad- 
miration of all lands. It was general intelligence, 
rightly directed, that made this wilderness a garden; 
and it is general intelligence, still rightly directed, 
which must preserve the bloom and beauty of our 
country. And we wish our youth not to be deceived 
on this subject, nor to pride themselves on securities 
and aids to advancement and honour, which they 
might enjoy, but do not improve. 

There is much said, and proudly said, about the 
growing intelligence of the world, and the peculiar 
intelligence of our country. We are too boastful of 
the rank we hold. Scarce a fraction of the world is 
raised from mental debasement. And is it not a fact, 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



117 



that our own country is not, comparatively, as en- 
lightened and intellectually distinguished, as it once 
was ? And does it not now present fearful evidences 
of growing indifference to its intellectual and moral 
culture ? I know this may appear strange, and you 
may question its truth. You may point to our mul- 
tiplied institutions of learning ; to those endless 
productions of mind thrown daily from the press; 
and the facilities for learning brought almost to 
every door. Still the inquiry may be urged upon 
us, is education rising — is intelligence advancing — 
does it possess that relative and commanding influ- 
ence to which it is entitled? Is it taking the lead, 
and holding in high and imperious control the in- 
terest and destinies of the country ? It once did so — 
but does it now ? You read of the time, when the 
Puritans, exiled on these wilderness shores, laid the 
foundations of your country, and laid them in intel- 
ligence and holiness. Next to their Bible and their 
sanctuary, they valued their school room, and at 
once devised their Universities of learning on a 
basis, that Europe, with the advance of centuries, 
could but admire. Every thing was then held sub- 
servient to intellectual and moral excellence. Pride 
of party, personal ambition, pecuniary gain, and 
lordly luxury, did not, and could not, eclipse the 
brightness, nor outweigh the value of intellectual 
eminence and moral dignity. Your fathers framed 
a government of law, most consistent with the 
rights of man, and bequeathed to their children a 
legacy richer than hereditary dignity of titles and 
estate ; the legacy of its preservation ; the rich faci- 
lities for intellectual improvement, and the bright 



118 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



example of moral worth. Moral and intellectual 
culture they united, and the wisest assemblage of 
statesmen, reflected as much their own wisdom and 
honour, as the glory of God, in that sanction which 
they gave to the wisdom of inspiration, and the 
safety they implored by fasting and prayer. And 
is there no departure from this high ground ? Is 
there no receding from that respect which once was 
given to intellectual eminence and to moral worth ? 
Do we not see the rising and the advance of an 
agrarian principle ; of a mad and reckless radical- 
ism; a wide and almost universal murmur of dis- 
content ; a demand for that levelling system, which 
would reduce alike the dignity of intellect, the 
security of virtue, and the right of possession, to 
the dictates of unbridled licentiousness ? And is 
there no gloomy apprehension to be borrowed from 
that supercilious courting of this agrarian spirit ; 
this strong desire for popular favour ; this yielding 
up of law and government; the unmanly prostration 
of civil rights and personal freedom to the bold 
demand of levelling authority? 

What has this to do with the subject before us ? Much, 
in every point of view. This exhibits a lowering of 
respect for intelligence, a proof of mental and moral 
degeneracy abroad among the people, not only, but 
it presents a melancholy proof that the leaders of 
party, and the high authorities of the land, no longer 
move in that brilliant and independent sphere of 
intellectual and moral dignity, which is alike un- 
reached, unassailed, and uninfluenced, by the low 
and sordid principles of personal ambition. It 
shows that intelligence and moral worth are not the 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



319 



only securities of political elevation, nor demanded 
as the legitimate and accepted pledges for fidelity 
and success, in the enactment and administration of 
law. It shows that intelligence and moral worth are 
not the all-commanding principles of the people ; for 
no intelligent people that are free, will ever raise 
over them uneducated men. The dying away of 
intelligence in the assemblies and senates of a free 
nation ; the lowering of its public standard for 
merit and trust; the departing of courtesy and de- 
corum, and of unsullied dignity from legislative 
halls ; the weakening of the arm of authority and 
the loose decisions of justice, are clear and fatal 
marks of wasting intelligence among the people, 
and of a rapid return of that prostituted public senti- 
ment, which threatens to erect on the ruins of laic, 
the ruthless sway of private will.* 



* As allusion has been made to the regard, which the fathers of our 
country paid to the subjects of education and religion, I would introduce 
in this place, the evidence of that regard. Reference is often made to 
what was felt by them in relation to these subjects ; but it is not to be ex- 
pected that many of our youth would be fully acquainted with the facta 
in the case, as they actually occurred ; and as a change so great and so 
fearful has taken place, it would be well for us to be reminded often of 
the characters and views of our forefathers. 

On the Journals of Congress, " Sept. 11th, 1777," is the following 
resolution : — * 

" Ordered, &c. * * * * that the use of the Bible is so universal, 
and its importance so great, that your committee refer the above to the 
consideration of Congress ; and if Congress shall not think it expedient 
to order the importation of types and paper, the committee recommend, 
that Congress will order the committee of commerce to import 20,000 
Bibles from Holland, Scotland, and elsewhere, into the different ports of 
the United States. Whereupon, it was moved, that the committee of 
commerce be directed to import 20,000 copies of the Bible, &c." 

In 1782, when, in consequence of the war, it was difficult to import 
Bibles, the subject of printing the Holy Scriptures was again brought 



120 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



It was the wise remark of the late Emperor of 
France, that " after all it is education that makes 
men,' 1 '' Pre-eminently is it true, that education is 



before Congress. The result was a vote of Congress recommending the 
edition of Robert Aiken, of Philadelphia, in the following language : — 
" The United States, in Congress assembled, highly approve the pious 
and laudable undertaking, as subservient to the interests of religion, and 
being satisfied of the care and accuracy in the execution of the work, 
recommend this edition to the inhabitants of the United States." Let 
this fact live and be told to every youth, that elevation of rank and 
office, when intelligent and virtuous, reveres and commends the Word 
of God. 

The fathers of our country had equal reverence for the institutions o 1 " 
religion, and acknowledged their obligations to its Holy Author. In 
March 14th, 1776, we find the following: — 

" In times of impending calamity and distress, &c. * * * * * it 
becomes the duty of these, hitherto free and happy colonies, with true 
penitence of heart and the most reverent devotion, publicly, to acknow- 
ledge the overruling providence of God, to confess and deplore our 
offences against Him, and to supplicate His interposition for averting the 
threatened danger, and prospering our strenuous efforts in the cause of 
freedom, virtue, and posterity. * * * * Desirous, at the same time, 
to have people of all ranks and degrees duly impressed with a solemn 
sense of God's superintending providence, and of their duty, devoutly 
to rely in all their lawful enterprise on His aid and direction, do earnest- 
ly recommend, that Friday, 17th of May next, be observed by said 
colonies, as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer. That we may, 
with united hearts, confess and bewail our manifold sins and transgres- 
sions, and by a sincere repentance and amendment of life, appease His 
righteous displeasure, and through the merits and mediation of Jesus 
Christ, obtain His pardon and forgiveness, &c. &c. * * * * And 
it is recommended to all Christians, of all denominations, to assemble 
for public worship, and abstain from servile labour, on the said day." 

In December 11th, 1776, only about six months after the above recom- 
mendation, we find the following resolution : — " Resolved that it be recom- 
mended to all the United States, as soon as possible, to appoint a day of 
solemn fasting and prayer, to implore of Almighty God the forgiveness 
of the many sins prevailing among all ranks, and to beg the countenance 
and assistance of His providence in the prosecution of the present just 
and necessary war. 

" The Congress do also, in the most earnest manner, recommend to all 
the members of the United States, particularly the officers, civil and mili • 
t ai-y, under them, the exercise of repentance and reformation ; and 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



121 



essential to fit men both to govern and to be go- 
verned. That improvement of mind — those enlarged 
views, which reading, study, and reflection alone 



further, to require of them the strict observation of the articles of war, 
and particularly, that part of the said articles which forbids profane 
swearing and all immorality, of which, all such officers are desired to 
take notice." 

March 7th, 1778. — " Resolved, that it be recommended to the United 
States of America, to set apart Wednesday, the 22d of April next, to be 
observed as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer ; that at one time, 
and with one voice, the inhabitants may acknowledge the righteous dis- 
pensation of Divine Providence, and confess their iniquities and trans- 
gressions for which the land mourneth ; that they may implore the mercy 
and forgiveness of God, and beseech Him that vice, profanity, extor- 
tion, and every evil may be done away, and that we may be a reformed 
and happy people," &c. &c. 

March 10th, 1781. — "The United States, in Congress assembled, 
agreed to the following proclamation. " At all times, it is our dutv to ac- 
knowledge the overruling Providence of the Great Governor of the uni- 
verse, and devoutly to implore His divine favour and protection. But 
in the hour of calamity and impending danger, when by fire and the 
.sword, by the savages of the wilderness, and by our own domestics, 
a vindictive enemy pursues a war of rapine and devastation, with unre- 
lenting fury ; we are peculiai'ly excited, with true penitence of heart, to 
prostrate ourselves before our Great Creator, and fervently to suppli- 
cate His gracious interposition for our deliverance. The United States, in 
Congress assembled, therefore, do earnestly recommend, that Thursdav, 
the 3d of May next, be observed as a day of humiliation, fasting, and 
prayer ; that we may, with united hearts, confess and bewail our manifold 
sins and transgressions, and by sincere repentance and amendment of 
life, appease His righteous displeasure, and, through the merits of our 
blessed Saviour, obtain pardon and forgiveness ; that it please Him to 
nspire our rulers with incorruptible integrity, and to direct and prosper 
their councils ; to inspire all our citizens with a fervent and disinterested 
love of their country, and to preserve and strengthen the Union, &c. &c. 
And it is recommended to all the people of these States, that they assem- 
ble for public worship, and abstain from labour on said day." 

March 19th, 1782, we find the following truly evangelical record : — 
" The goodness of the Supreme Being to all His rational creatures de- 
mands their acknowledgment of gratitude and love ; His absolute go- 
vernment of this world, dictates, that it is the interest of every nation 
and people, ardently to supplicate His favour, and to implore His protec- 
tion. 

11 



122 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



can give, are the best securities to contented ness and 
improvement in private life ; and as they enable us 
to judge of the nature and value of civil rights and 



'• "When the lusts of dominion and lawless ambition excite arbitrary 
power to invade tbe rights, or endeavour to wrest from a people their 
sacred and invaluable privileges, and compels them, in defence of the 
same, to encounter all the horrors and calamities of a bloody and uncer- 
tain war, then is that people loudly called upon to fly unto that God for 
protection, who hears the cries of the distressed, and will not turn a deaf 
ear to the supplications of the oppressed. 

" The United States, in Congress assembled, therefore, taking into con- 
sideration our present situation, our multiplied transgressions of the 
holy laws of our God, and His past acts of kindness and goodness 
towards us, which we ought to receive with liveliest gratitude, think it 
their indispensable duty to call upon the several States, to set apart the 
last Thursday of April next, as a day of Fasting. Humiliation, and 
Prayer ; that our joint supplications may then ascend to the throne of 
the Ruler of the universe, beseeching Him to diffuse a spirit of univer- 
sal reformation among all ranks and degrees of our citizens, and make 
us a holy, so we may be a happy people. ***** That 
the religion of our Divine Redeemer, with all its benign influence, mav 
cover the earth as the waters cover the sea." 

The character of respect and reverence for God and relieion, mani- 
fested in the above records, was not created by the perilous circum- 
stances in which the country was placed, but it was the result of just 
conceptions of God and our relations to Him. Our fathers were equally 
mindful of their obligation for Divine favours, and with equal cheerful- 
ness returned thanks for His goodness. 

We find the folio-wing Proclamation recorded. November 1, 1777. 
" Forasmuch as it is the indispensable duty of all men to adore the 
superintending providence of Almighty God, to acknowledge with grati- 
tude their obligations to Him for benefits received, and to implore such 
further blessings as they stand in need of; and it having pleased Him 
in His abundant mercy, not only to continue to us the innumerable 
bounties of His common providence, but also smile upon us, as in the 
prosecution of a just and necessary war, for the defence and establish- 
ment of our inalienable rights and liberties ; particularly in that He has 
been pleased in so great a measure to prosper the means used for the 
support of our troops, and to crown our arms with most sienal success : 
it is therefore recommended to the Legislative and Executive powers 
of these United States, to set apart the 18th day of December next, for 
solemn Thanksgiving and Praise : that with one heart and one voice, 
the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts, and 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



123 



securities, they prepare us to intrust their keeping to 
those, and to those only, who, from their intelligence 
and worth, are entitled to confidence and trust. 



consecrate themselves to tlie service of their divine Benefactor ; and 
together with their sincere acknowledgment and offerings, they may join 
the penitent confession of their many sins, whereby they have forfeited 
every favour, and their humble and fervent s-upplications that it may 
please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and 
to blot them out of remembrance : that it may please Him graciously to 
afford his blessing oh. the government of these States respectively, and 
prosper the public councils of the Whole ; to inspire our commanders, 
both by land and sea, and all under them, with that wisdom and forti- 
tude which may render them fit instruments under the providence of 
Almighty God, to secure for these United States the greatest of all 
blessings, independence and peace : that it may please Him to prosper 
the trade and manufactures of the people, and the labour of the hus- 
bandmen, that our land may yield its increase : to make schools and 
seminaries of education, so necessary for cultivating the principles of 
true liberty, virtue, and piety, under his maturing hand, and to prosper 
the means of religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that king- 
dom which consisteth in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 
And it is further recommended, that servile labour, and such recreation 
as may be unbecoming the purpose of this appointment, be omitted on 
so solemn an occasion." 

November 17, 1773, a similar day was appointed by a proclamation 
breathing the same spirit. 

The following interesting circumstance occurred October 24, 1781. 
"A letter from General Washington, giving information of the reduction 
of the British Army under the command of Earl Cornwallis, on the 
19th inst. 

" Whereupon, on motion of Mr. Randolph, 

" Resolved, That Congress will, at 2 o'clock this day, go in procession 
to the Dutch Lutheran Church, and return thanks to Almighty God for 
crowning the allied arms of the United States and France with success, 
by the surrender of the whole British Army under the command of 
Earl Cornwallis." 

" September 13, 1781. Resolved, That Thursday, 13th day of De- 
cember next, be observed as a day of public Thanksgiving, throughout 
the United States." 

A full and an affecting proclamation accompanied this resolution. 

October 11, 1782. After enumerating the many blessings of provi- 
dence during the year, Congress in their proclamation appointing a day 
af Thanksgiving, add : " do hereby recommend to the inhabitants of 



124 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



These, too, are essential to guard from the re-act- 
ings of those gloomy and superstitious elements of 
depravity, which have so long chained the mind and 
the heart in captivity, and which are now in vigor- 
ous exertion to bring on to us the reign of spiritual 
despotism. That breaking asunder of kindred 
bonds — throwing aside of established principles — 
bold resolution for experiments, under the arrogant 
title of improvement — novelties in science, literature, 
legislation, and reli gion j this restless radicalism and 
fearless ultraism, which have already assumed the 
blighting features of " fanaticism," are fast walking 
over the landmark of wisdom, virtue, and safet} 7 , 
which the wisest and best men of two continents had 
drawn, and which their practical utility for centuries 
had sanctioned. 

This is not the exaggeration of morbid sensitive- 
ness, nor the gloomy fears of an extravagant fancy. 
It is the legitimate result of sober reflection borrow- 
ed from the experience of the past. What the ulti- 
mate results will be, if no redeeming power is ap- 
plied, does not want the aid of prophecy to foresee. 

There is a redeeming power, and it lies in the 
hands of the young to see it applied. It is such a 
correction of the popular sentiment, as shall make 



these in general to observe, and request the several States to interpose 
their authority in enforcing and commanding the observation of Thurs- 
day, 28th of November next, as a day of solemn Thanksgiving to God 
for all his mercies ; and they do further reeommend to all ranks, to 
testify their gratitude to God for his goodness, by a cheerful obedience 
to his laws, and by promoting, eacJi in his station, and by his influence^ 
the practice of true and undefiled religion, which is the great foxmdatioyi o£ 
public prosperity and national happiness." 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 125 

intellectual excellence, and the diffusion of useful 
knowledge, more valuable and more valued, than 
the adornments of fashion and the pride of wealth ; 
that shall seek out and elevate worth and liberal sen- 
timents, and make the attainment of office and hon- 
our, the result of intelligence, of enlarged views and 
moral honesty; that shall frown on obtrusive igno- 
rance and vain glory, and shall put to silence the 
cavillings of sceptical philosophy, and extinguish 
the enkindlings of agrarian licentiousness. This 
may be done, for it has been done. And when the 
youth of our country shall be made to think more of 
intellectual honours, and prize higher the intellectual 
pleasures ; pursue more ardently, and diffuse more 
widely the resources of useful knowledge, it will be 
done ngain, and until then it will not be done. 
And if this is not done, it is not in the possibility of 
moral influence; it is not within the reach of most 
ardent hope, to create the belief, that our country is 
destined long to survive the shocks of ignorance, in- 
fidelity, and licentiousness. General intelligence, 
under the conservative influence of moral principle, 
is the only security which remains to us; and it is 
not for you to rest in the belief of safety, and felici- 
tate yourselves on the actual improvement of intel- 
lectual resources, but you should be deeply affected 
by the fact, long overlooked, that this increase bears 
no proportion to the demand which is made upon 
us, by the still more rapid increase of an ignorant 
and vicious population; a population unlike the le- 
gitimate descendants of your fathers, whose first 
nurturings were those of intellect and moral feeling, 
11* 



126 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG, 



but a population whose aspirations of mind were sti- 
fled in the cradle, and whose moral constitution 
was poisoned by the aliments of lust— all of whose 
native and ennobling principles are prostrate and 
blasted, almost beyond the power of redemption. 

There is a demand now for the cultivation of intel- 
lect, and for the exercise of its moral influence, be- 
yond what was ever before known, It must be 
higher in its attainments, and it must be rapid and 
efficient in its application. It must not only rise and 
shine, but it must move forward, like the pillar and 
cloud of Israel, with guiding and controlling energy. 
It must, in the dignity of age, ascend again the high 
places of trust, and ennoble the decisions of law and 
justice. It must speak in the commanding voice of 
legislative dignity — it must invest,. with new honour, 
our ecclesiastical councils — it must pervade the 
walks of private life — give to wealth its splendour, 
and to luxury its sweetness — to domestic scenes its 
chaste adornings, and to the nursery, the enkindling 
hopes of a nation's elevation. Mind and moral 
worth must be made the capital of our country — the 
conservative principles, which must be woven through 
all its complicated arrangements, and give a dignity, 
a charm, and security to our possessions and our 
hopes. 

It may not be improper to allude to some of the 
causes which have contributed, and which may still 
contribute to lessen the value, which a free people 
ought ever to place on its intellectual resources, and 
the efforts which ought to be made to increase gene- 
ral intelligence. 

First : There is, at the present time, false pride 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



127 



of our intellectual advantages, and a reliance upon 
facilities for education, rather than laborious efforts 
for its attainment. 

We have the richest advantages, the most ample 
facilities, and as bright examples of intellectual emi- 
nence, as any nation, ancient or modern. Exam- 
ples, too, from every class of society ; men, who, by 
the force of their own genius, and reliance on 
their own efforts, have arisen from the obscurest 
walks of life, to intellectual eminence, leading in 
the useful arts, adorning alike the bar, the senate, 
and the chair of state ; giving dignity to the pulpit 
and the diplomacy of nations, and spreading a charm 
over all the departments of literature and science. 
Under their influence and example, the labouring 
classes have been raised ; dignity, rather than dis- 
grace, attached to honest and daily toil, by the in- 
telligence which may be gained, and the path which 
it opens before the humblest labourer, to the attain- 
ment of wealth, and the honours of office and trust. 

As they who have gone before us have learned, 
from their own experience, the value and the bless- 
ings of education and general intelligence, they laid 
the foundation for most ample advantages to those 
who should succeed them. 

And a question of deep interest arises; are the 
youth of our country sufficiently stimulated by 
their example, and industrious in improving their 
facilities for intellectual attainments ? Is it not 
true, that while opportunities for gaining general 
knowledge are a thousand fold more rich, varied, 
and extensive; industrious application, close study, 
elaborate investigation, are in danger of being 



128 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



greatly neglected ? Does not the present gene- 
ration rely rather on the attainments of others, 
than upon their own researches ? Are they not con- 
tented with the fields already explored, rather than 
advancing on the experiments and resources of their 
predecessors ? And from this unhappy feature of the 
age, is there not a growing indifference to the stores 
of literature and science already before us, and the 
public mind fast becoming incompetent to appreciate 
and improve these rich treasures of national wealth 
and honour, as well as of individual dignity and per- 
sonal happiness? There are, indeed, many bright 
stars adorning our hemisphere of mind, but are they 
not comparatively few and incomparably less com- 
manding, than those which so early rose illustrious 
in our skies ? We will not say, that the years of our 
Franklins, our Parsons, our Rushes, Edwards, and 
Dwights are ended, but we do not behold the paths 
which they trod, to usefulness and honour, crowded 
by young aspirants for knowledge and immortality. 
Above all, we do not see that rigid regard to indus- 
trious application, that high toned intellectual inte- 
grity, that so brightened and blessed the character 
of these men, and the age in which they lived. It 
cannot be denied, that vast wealth, and multiplied 
years are now expended ; often a nominal education 
merely is gained, while the pearl of intellectual price 
lies buried too deep for gay and careless youth to 
reach : and multitudes, who are assuming the cha- 
racter of educated men, are as shallow of intellect, 
and barren of thought, as they are showy and proud 
— alike a disgrace to their country abroad, and a 
burden to its interests at home. It would seem, that 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



129 



the rage for improvement in mechanic arts, and the 
rapidity of commercial intercourse, had invaded the 
empire of mind, and a high road was demanded, and 
attempted to mental acquirements and intellectual 
eminence, in which the time and the toil of years 
might be saved, and the pleasures of youth, the ho- 
nours of wealth and office, and the refinements of 
luxury, all become cotemporary and co-ordinate 
with intellectual attainments. Thus, if we mistake 
not, the advantages and varied facilities for educa- 
tion in our country, are in danger of being pervert- 
ed, and made a direct check to those vigorous efforts 
and high attainments to which our youth should ar- 
dently aspire. 

Second. Love of wealth is another embarrass- 
ment in the way of general education and high 
intellectual attainments. 

This is the ruling characteristic of our country ; 
and when resolved into the manly spirit of energy 
and enterprise, and restricted to proper bounds, and 
advanced for proper ends, cannot be discouraged 
nor despised. But when it becomes the ruling 
passion, absorbing all other considerations, and 
creating a false standard of excellence and influence, 
giving to simple possession an influence and honour 
which belong only to mind and moral worth, it is 
time to frown on its spirit, and to check its advance- 
ment. Pride of riches, and an aristocracy of wealth, 
may be as perilling and prostrating to the interests 
of our country, as the pride of hereditary distinction, 
and an aristocracy of unalienable power. 

It cannot be questioned, that wealth, too eagerly 
sought in extended and unwarrantable enterprises. 



130 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



rashness of speculation we should rather say, has 
contributed to this neglect of education in a still 
larger class of our youth. They see the false esti- 
mate which is placed upon riches, the splendid 
luxury and apparent ease in which it reposes, the 
obsequious court and base servility that bow before 
it, and it fills alike their day dreams and their 
nightly visions, till every faculty, and every nerve, 
are given to its attainment. They become so anx- 
ious to be rich, that they hasten away from the 
facilities of learning, and regard every attainment 
as useless, which does not bear directly on the object 
of their desires. The result is, they often fail as to 
the object of pursuit, for want of educated minds to 
calculate with wisdom, and with prudence ; or if 
they actually succeed, their very riches become 
sources of unhappiness ; giving them, as they vainly 
imagine, a right to eminence which they are unfitted 
to hold, and to duties which they are incompetent 
to discharge. Thus, their ample possessions set off 
more glaringly the barrenness of their minds, and 
prove their unfitness for the stations, to which they 
aspire, by the force of wealth. 

J would say to every youth, lay a good founda- 
tion for knowledge, before you seek to become rich ; 
and let your increase of wealth never be sought at 
the expense of an increase of useful learning. 
Think more of immortal mind than of those tran- 
sient gains that glitter in the eyes of vain and foolish 
men ; secure that which gives to wealth its real 
worth ; to elevated life, its highest charms ; to re- 
tired age, its ease and dignity. 

Third. Another source of the evil in question, 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 131 

is the almost endless profusion of stupid and scur- 
rilous journals, which issue daily from the press, 
and which crowd every village of our land. Multi- 
tudes of these, created for the single purpose of 
pecuniary gain, are spread with industrious effort, 
and take the place of more respectable vehicles of 
intelligence. These innumerable publications are 
often presented as conclusive evidence of a reading 
population, and of growing intelligence ; when in 
fact, it is evidence of what party men will expend 
for party purposes, and how vitiated and strong the 
public taste has become, for low and scurrilous at- 
tacks on public good and private character. While 
these are crowded upon us, more valuable sources 
of instruction will not only be excluded, but the 
taste for reading and useful knowledge becomes 
perverted and destroyed. 

The great variety of reviews, which present to us 
the more extended works of literature, science, and 
religion, are in danger of exerting an unfavourable 
influence on that very cause which they were intend- 
ed to promote. They have become the labour- 
saving machines of intellect, seizing and presenting 
the most brilliant imagery, vivid illustration, manly 
investigation, and extended research ; these are 
thrown in between us and the full fountain from 
which they were drawn : adorned, too, as they 
usually are, with superadded honours, the necessity 
of more extended reading is regarded as unnecessa- 
ry, and its labour both useless and uninviting. 
There are many whose wisdom is borrowed from the 
title of books, or, at most, from a few leading 
thoughts which adorn their pages. 



ft 

132 DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 

The reading of light and superficial authors, 
above all, has contributed to the evil in question, 
and induced what is justly denominated, the age of 
" superficial literature." Sober history, rigid sci- 
ence, elevated poetry, and substantial literature, are 
not, as in years that are past, regarded as essential 
to the foundation and superstructure of education. 
Addison, Johnson, with the grave historians, with 
Cowper and Milton, and writers on natural and 
mental science, and moral philosophy, are too sober 
and dull to meet the vitiated taste and excited pas- 
sions of modern times. They require too much 
thought and reflection. They are addressed to 
mind in the dignity and majesty of cultivated ex- 
pansion, and are the proper aliment of its growing 
necessities, the rich luxuries upon which it delights 
to feast. And it is not strange, that mind, with 
partial development and perverted powers, should 
fail to appreciate these stores of intellect. 

There are comparatively few, who seem delighted 
with those rich treasures of Grecian literature, which 
have adorned our world as widely as her monuments 
of art ; and multitudes of our youth, we fear, would 
be more captivated and fired by the standards of 
Roman prowess, and the spreading eagles of her 
victory, than by the thunder of her eloquence, and 
the highest adornments of her civic wreaths. 

While the study of biblical science should more 
than ever command the labour of the ministr}^ and 
of all who anticipate the usefulness of the sacred 
office, the great mass of the rising generation, pass 
with almost entire indifference and neglect those rich 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 133 

resources of sacred literature, which the loftiest 
minds have opened before us, and to which ages of 
experience have given sanctiou and solemnity. I 
must be allowed to say, and that, too, not with the 
partiality of one in a separate department of study, 
but as a matter of unquestionable fact, to be de- 
plored, that the learned professions, while they would 
appear as demanding richer resources, and furnish- 
ing more extended facilities, are, at the same lime, 
fast filling with men unaccustomed to severe and 
protracted study. At the threshold of the ministry, 
we throw our most decided protest. And why, in 
the departments of law and medicine, should we 
listen to the elaborate lectures of other men and of 
other times, gain the forms of the one and the prac- 
tice of the other, without securing that expansion of 
mind, which severe, protracted, and successful study 
alone can gain ; and which alone can give us the 
promise and the power of new discovery and higher 
attainments in these departments of useful knowledge, 
which are but just opened before us. 

The great struggle seems now to be for an early 
entrance upon the active employments of life, with- 
out sufficiently regarding that preparation which is 
essential to render those active engagements useful 
and successful. To be doing something — to be 
growing rich — to be in the high and rapid advance 
of independent action, is the great object which 
seems to absorb every other consideration. "While 
ruined estates, prostrate health, wasted lives, and 
blasted characters, are the painful forfeitures of this 
abandonment of a judicious, rigid, and successful 

12 



134 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG* 



course of mental discipline.* Eminence of profes- 
sional character has not the charm that an early 
settlement in life and anticipated wealth present, and 
the thought of more enlarged usefulness is in danger 
of m being, wholly forgotten. 

But as much as we deplore this change, we regret 5 
if possible, still more, that loose, frivolous, light, 
miscellaneous reading, with which our age and our 
country abounds. The highest class of intellect is 
not now put in requisition to furnish the aliment of 
the public mind. Germany does, indeed, present 
some illustrious monuments of genius and extended 
research ; but they lie hid, for the most part, in the 
dulness of their native tongue, and are almost lost 
to the world. Scotland and England, to use the lan- 
guage of their own shores, " have given birth to their 
complement of illustrious men; but have done with 
admiration of Chiefs and will hereafter move for- 
ward in mass, by the force, and under the guidance 
of the common mind."f Authors now must write 
only what the world will read. There was a time 
when they formed the public mind ; but now they 



* It is doubtful whether any age or country can furnish a proportion- 
ate number of mercantile failures, and entire bankruptcies among young 
adventurers, with our own. The temptations and facilities for engaging 
in business, on borrowed capital ; of unwarrantable extension without 
personal responsibility ; hope of gain by hazarding, where there is no 
fear of personal loss; withal, the ease of effecting a compromise, on 
terms which will yield to the unsuccessful adventurer a handsome pos- 
session, to which he has not the shadow of right, have contributed to 
almost countless failures in our country, which are alike injurious to well- 
regulated business, and to moral integrity. And it presents a very se- 
rious question, as touching the political economy and morals of the coun- 
try, whether its rapidly increasing enterprise and speculation, on ficti- 
tious and borrowed capital, is not, on the whole, a positive, and an alarm- 
ing evil. 

t Saturday Evening. 



DUTIES OP THE YOUNG. 



135 



must yield to public sentiment, or see their works fall 
unnoticed and die. Hence, it is said, " they seldom 
appear at all and the world is flooded with superfi- 
cial, false, and miserable literature, on which vitiated 
taste delights to feed, and which every hour becomes 
still more and more vitiated. History can scarce be 
read at all, till all confidence in its truth is taken away 
by embellishments which romantic fancy has thrown 
around it. 

That illustrious man, whom this country has so 
highly honoured, whose versatile mind has gone to 
rest, while he may have laid the world under obliga- 
tion for sweeping aside an immense mass of puerile 
and vulgar romance, has, at the same time, thrown 
an equal amount of splendid romance, on sober and 
substantial history, which has, perhaps, more than 
outweighed the good secured. While he has the 
credit of drawing human nature in broad, bright, 
and diversified lines, I am free to declare, that its 
reality is nowhere to be found in life ; and he has 
been as unjust to the darker features of our na- 
ture, as he has been partial to those which he has 
sought to adorn ; and I doubt not at all, that the 
cause of literature has, on the whole, suffered from 
his immense contribution to her stores, to say no- 
thing of his having burlesqued the religion of his 
own country. I am willing to inscribe this prediction 
on the most enduring monument of his fame, that 
fifty years will find his works, excepting a few of a 
poetical character, almost as much unknown, save 
in the history of literature, as was their author in the 
zenith of his glory. When I reflect upon what the 
works of Sir Walter Scott have done to the sober 



136 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



history of our world, and to that portion of the read- 
ing class in the higher walks of life, 1 cannot but ad- 
mire the just and cutting reproof of the young Duke 
of Reichtstadt, when he said of this novelist biogra- 
pher of his father, " having turned the history of 
his own country into fable, he has come to turn the 
fable of ours into history." 

Do you inquire what has this to do with our duty, 
to increase the intelligence of our country? Much 
every way. I wish to direct your attention to more 
substantial and profitable reading, and thus secure 
that expansion of mind— those liberal and enlight- 
ened views, which will lay the basis of solid and 
useful characters, and not cultivate an early aversion 
to sober and instructive reading by such light and 
fascinating productions. You are in danger of being 
led through such enchanting fields of fiction, that 
you will be wholly unable to settle down on the 
sober and permanent realities of truth* 

But you will probably say, that we learn much of 
human nature. This I very much doubt* after alL 
And what if you do learn much of human nature 
from these productions of fancy i Is it that know- 
ledge of human nature which you most need* and 
which you find easy to apply to the practical pur- 
poses of life ? And more than this, do you learn 
it in those connexions which render you safe, and 
which make that knowledge valuable 3 You may 
learn much of human nature from the profane and 
vulgar dramatists of Europe t jet what youtb^ 
especially what youth of female delicacy* would 
expose her virtue of mind, and modesty of emotion* 
by traversing such scenes of pollution and sham® $ 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



137 



You might learn human nature in the low sinks of 
human degradation and debauchery, but to secure it, 
would you become a resident and a participant 
there ? The fact is, there is an error here, a gross 
deception. These novelists and dramatists have 
been caressed and crowded upon the world for self- 
ish and vicious purposes, under false pretensions ; 
and the great mass of our youth receive and read 
them, not for the instruction they impart, but to keep 
up with a species of fashion ; and above all, to feast 
the insatiable appetite of sickly sensibility. 

Plain unvarnished history and biography are the 
best schools of human nature, while the dramatist 
and the novelist do equal injustice to the excellen- 
cies and defects of man ; and give those extravagant 
and distorted views which feast the passions for 
•things marvellous, and impart little that is instruc- 
tive and useful.* 



* I know of scarce a single portrait drawn by this much lauded 
painter of human character, where is blended the subject of religion, in 
which gross injustice is not done to the principles of the gospel. He 
evidently entered upon a province with which he was not acquainted. 
His positive denial of the authorship of his works to the Duke of York, 
and his subsequent acknowledgment of it, at an hour of unbecoming 
festivity, together with the gross injustice he has done the Covenanters, 
and the more eminently pious of his own kirk and country, as proved abun- 
dantly before the British Parliament, are proofs sufficient, that the moral 
tendency of his writings is not in accordance with the principles of virtue 
and religion. 

And I have always been surprised at the almost indiscriminate praise 
bestowed upon the works of Shakspeare ; especially at the place which 
he is assigned in the world of letters, by moral and religious men. 
No matter what his merit is ; no matter how true to the life he has 
drawn his characters ; no matter how brilliant and lofty his im- 
aginative genius, the question should be, What is the moral tendency 
of his works ? When, on almost every page, the God we worship 
is profaned, and that delicacy, and modesty, and virtue which we 
most prize in our youth, are rudely assailed, it would seem, that the 

12* 



13S 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



I would say, form a taste for reading", gam a 
reputation for ' intelligence, far above the range of 
romance and evanescent poetry. A taste that can 
be satisfied only with substantial literature; a reputa- 
tion that cannot be sullied by the acknowledgment 
that you are ignorant of these ; that you stop not to 
drink at these mingled waters, but go up to the high 
and pure fountains. 

I cannot disguise the fact, that little promise of 
elevation in life, but faint hope of usefulness and 
dignified enjoyment are found in that young man 
who turns from instructive reading to light and 
ephemeral literature, and who does not resolve 
on the attainment of educated intellect, more than 
on the acquisition of wealth. And that house whose 
drawing rooms present the crowded display of 
gilded annuals and fresh romances, is not the 
place where you are to find the intellectual dignity, 
and the solid virtues of the female character. You 
may find the adornments of fashion, the pride of 
life, the show of wealth, while all that gives wealth 
and life their value, may be wanting still. 



evil is so great, that no amount of good that can be derived from them, 
should give diem currency. I know I am meeting the almost uniform 
and expressed opinion of two continents, and yet, at the same time I 
would ask, what youth, especially what virtuous female can, without 
constant violence to her virtuous sensibilities, read the pages of this 
dramatist ? Take away his vulgarity, obsceneness, and profaneness, 
and how long would he continue, to sustain and adorn the stage ? A 
solitary expurgated edition of his works, if we are not misinformed, still 
remains on the hands of the publisher. It is feared and believed that thi3 
author has lived as much on the depraved sensibilities of our youth, as 
on his own intrinsic merit as a man of mind ; and it is the very splendour 
of his genius, and the master strokes of his imaginative powers, that 
renders the poison of his works so subtle and destructive. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



139 



I have long been persuaded of the importance of 
this subject, from its strong and direct bearing on 
the usefulness of active life, and the cause of vital 
piety. We begin to speak with admiration, and 
almost with.reverence, of those who are " men of the 
old school." And that admiration and reverence 
arise, not alone from their intrinsic excellence and 
acknowledged dignity of deportment, but from the 
fewness of their number, and constantly retiring 
steps. They are like the fathers of the revolution, 
honourable for their age and the solitary grandeur 
in which they move ; and like them, they impress us 
with gloomy fears, that, as they die away, there 
will be found none to prize and preserve the princi- 
ples which they lived to establish, and sanctioned in 
death. There is a growing lightness and flippancy 
in our age and in our country, a constant incorpo- 
ration of the vanity, the show, the superficialness of 
Europe ; while the grave, the solid, the dignified de- 
portment of genuine manliness and virtue, are in dan- 
ger of being thrown aside. The primitive grandeur 
of puritanic intellect, and the solid basis of religious 
principle, are undermined by the insinuating corrup- 
tions of foreign growth, and the licentious spirit of 
false independence. 

Education and valuable intelligence are, or may 
be made equally auxiliary to the cause of religion, 
as to that of genuine refinement and true dignity of 
manners. That knowledge of man and of Divine 
Providence, which is borrowed from the calm and 
dispassionate record of the past, is peculiarly favour- 
able to the successful inculcation of scripture truth, 
and the practical duties of christian godliness. 



140 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



While hearts that are vitiated, and minds formed 
on the model of romantic history, and light litera- 
ture, are extremely unfriendly to serious thought, 
holy meditation, and practical piety. With such, 
the realities of life, of truth, and of religion, can 
seldom gain reception. Religion is a reality, and 
so are death and the judgment, heaven andhell ; and 
yet who does not know that these, with all the fearful 
evidence that fortifies their claims to man's imme- 
diate regard, gain scarce a moment's thought, or the 
slightest credit, from minds bewildered by fiction, 
and hearts whose every spring and every chord of 
sensitiveness is held by the love of uncertain, yet 
anticipated indulgence. 

And hence it is, that a well meaning class of 
authors have formed the design of presenting to vitia- 
ted moral sentiment, their " Religious Romances." 
The most absurd, and perhaps I may add, the most 
injurious of all. And if the son of the conqueror 
lamented to see the history of his father and of his 
country turned into fable, how much more should 
the Christian regret to have the holy religion of 
Jesus, converted from its sacred realities, to de- 
ceitful fiction ; or its unearthly mysteries, and 
its most moving scenes, shaded and impaired by 
vain attempts to adorn the one, to explain and en- 
force the other, by the aid of fictitious illustrations? 

Labour to have your minds and morals formed on 
the principles of truth and righteousness, and endea- 
vour, by the rich facilities for intellectual improve- 
ment, to gain, and constantly cultivate a taste for 
substantial knowledge, and excite an emulation for 
those attainments, which enrich the public mind, add 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



141 



to the resources of intellect, and contribute to the 
moral advancement of society. Remember, that 
mind which you possess is the noblest part of your 
existence. It is to become, indeed, it now is, the 
chief means of forming your moral character, and 
the channel through which the soul, as to its moral 
and sensitive nature, will drink in pleasure or pain s 
joy or sorrow for ever. Then let its immortal en- 
ergies never lie inactive, or become perverted, but 
aroused and cultivated by truth, to the widest extent 
of their capacities here, that they may put on again, 
in the renovated glories of spiritual life, their origi- 
nal resemblance to their divine and blessed Author, 



142 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



CHAPTER XL 

Intellectual attainments favourable to religion. — Religion contributes to 
mental development and culture, and also stimulates to industry and 
enterprise. — The duty of making all attainments to subserve the inte- 
rests of virtue and piety. 

It has been a common remark, that rich resour- 
ces of intelligence were unfavourable to the attain- 
ment of piety, and the growth of christian character. 
And nothing can be more untrue. It is the abuse 
of intelligence, the pride and vanity of its resources, 
which contribute to this result, just as the abuse of 
any other possession or attainment will do. It has 
also been supposed, that true piety was unfavourable 
to vigour and expansion of intellect, and successful 
enterprise. This is still farther from the truth than 
the former impression ; for piety is that principle 
which does not admit of such a perversion and 
abuse; but, from its very nature, sways and governs 
the mind; prompts to industrious application in our 
appropriate spheres of action ; and, most of all, ex- 
cites to useful industry, reading and study, and im- 
parts, even to uneducated minds, a desire for infor- 
mation. 

It has been thought that the gospel authorized this 
belief, where Christ says, "I thank thee, O Father, 
Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid 
these things from the wise and prudent, and hast re- 
vealed them unto babes.' 5 This, in my opinion, 
more clearly teaches the unfittedness of those proud 



DUTIES OF* THE YOUNG. 



143 



and vain, of their religious knowledge, to gain that 
instruction which is so easily secured, by that hum- 
ble, docile, teachable disposition, seen clearly in the 
days of childhood. The false impression before us, 
is confirmed still more, where it is said, " Not many 
wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many 
noble are called." This portion of sacred truth is 
generally misapplied. It is not declared that 
few of this description are actually called to be 
Christians, but that in the day of the first spread 
of the religion of Christ, not many wise men 
after the flesh, not many might} 7 , not many noble, 
were called to become its teachers and apostles. 
There was reason why such should not be called to 
be preachers, and the reason is assigned in this im- 
mediate connexion. Paul, in speaking of christian 
teachers, says, "You see your calling, brethren, 
how, that not many wise men after the flesh, not 
many mighty, not many noble are called ; but God 
hath chosen the foolish things of this world, to con- 
found the wise, and God hath chosen the weak 
things of this world, to confound the things which 
are mighty, that no flesh should glory in his pre- 
sence." 

How the selection of uneducated men to carry 
forward the gospel, furnished the best oppor- 
tunity for the wisdom of inspiration, and the power 
of miracles to be shown, is obvious to all. Had 
the first preachers all been men of consummate wis- 
dom and great power, the suspicion might easily 
have been excited, that there was deception ; but as 
it is, the wisdom and the power are most clearly 



144 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



from God, and the instrumentality is calculated to 
show it. 

Piety is in no sense unfavourable to the highest 
intellectual cultivation, and the wisest enterprise of 
action. And if you think it so, I beg 30U to ex- 
amine the records of science, of literature, in every 
useful branch, and of political economy even, and 
tell me whose productions are those which live 
through ages, and brighten from the review of years. 
See that rising of the mind, as from a deep sleep, 
when piety takes possession of the heart, and awakes 
at once ihe dormant energies of the soul. The reli- 
gious world will not suffer a comparison with any 
other portion of our race, as to science, literature, 
philosophy, or for intelligence of whatever kind, and 
for active engagedness in the useful pursuits of life. 
And though the enemies of truth and righteousness 
may ridicule what the}* may please to term their 
cant and conventional dialect, true dignity and good 
sense will look beyond this for thought and feeling, 
and allow them, if }~ou please, the language of their 
country, their king, and their hopes, and at the same 
time, admire the simple-heartedness with which they 
grow in useful knowledge, as well as in the grace of 
God. And do you not know, that while the most 
pious of the world were abused for their singularity 
in religion, they held, at the same time, the very 
nursery of the richest science on earth, and their 
home presented the most imposing splendours of 
intellectual worth. And the puritans, reviled by all 
the light and vain writers of both continents, were, 
at the same time, the teachers of a world, to whom 
every department of human learning and political 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



145 



science, is under more obligation, than to any other 
class of men that ever lived. It was the acknow- 
ledgment of the infidel Hume, that England owed 
all the liberty which she enjoyed to the Puritans, 
and that they were the fast friends of liberal princi- 
ples throughout the world. Let this convince you, 
that by becoming a sincere follower of Jesus Christ, 
you do not close one source of useful intelligence, 
nor bow, at all, the genuine dignity of intellectual 
worth. No, but you enhance it an hundred fold, 
and open the widest avenues of thought, reason, and 
reflection, and from which imagination chastened 
and pure, as on the wing of hope, can take her lof- 
tiest flights, eternal truth her unerring guide. 

Nor, on the other hand, is intelligence and eleva- 
tion of character unfavourable to real piety. What 
is piety ? The knowledge of God; love of truth; 
harmony with nature; obedience to laws, natu- 
ral, organic, intellectual, and moral; an acquaint- 
ance and acquiescence with the character and course 
of Providence ; and the effect of causes, with wise and 
prudent calculation, as to the result of events acting 
on the best interests of man ; a diligent inquiry into 
the high and holy administration of God, in the 
grace of Jesus Christ, over rational beings, with the 
consequences of that supremacy; and a heart to 
praise and love the plan and principles upon which 
that administration of grace is conducted. This is 
piety; and what can there be in the widest extent of 
knowledge, unfavourable to the growth of such a 
spirit ? It would seem, indeed, that it would contri- 
bute directly to true religion. And, in fact, when 
not abused and perverted, it does so. There is no 
13 



146 DUTIES OF THE YOUNG* 



intelligent man living in Christendom, who remains 
in sin, without doing violence to the powers of his 
mind, as well as the dictates of his conscience and 
the word of God. This knowledge points him to 
that truth and wisdom, which is the understanding of 
eternal life. And but for his pride and perversion 
of intellect, he would become a Christian. He is kept 
from it, only, as his unholy heart opposes the dic- 
tates of his mind and conscience. 

Not onlv so, but J would add, there is much 
that is called intelligence, which is only the show 
of knowledge, and a philosophy falsely so called; 
errors of science, philosophy, and literature, which 
ought not to be classed with useful knowledge. 
The more you possess of this, the more widely 
are you removed from the possession and pros- 
pect of genuine intelligence. This is a miserable 
possession ; the more you have of it, the poorer 
you are. False principles of science are worse 
than none. False philosophy has done most 
of all to engender errors in religion ; for our views 
of the doctrines of the gospel will be governed by 
our principles of intellectual philosophy, while false 
and useless literature has seemed to complete the 
destruction of good, as it respects religion. But 
all this should never be dignified with the name of 
knowledge. True principles of science fortify the 
truth of the Bible. True philosophy, and substan- 
tial literature, must be harmonious with evangelical 
piety ; for that God who laid the foundations of phi- 
losophy, and the structure of science, is also the 
author and revealer of evangelical religion. United, 
they all contribute to lead a candid mind to God, 
and the sublimities of his truth. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



147 



I would urge the attainment of knowledge, 
with the facilities for its acquisition, and press 
the obligation, the advantage, the pleasure, of 
its being wisely directed, and that to it, be added 
that knowledge which is unto life eternal. And 
I bung you the high injunction of that man, who, 
Under the direction of Infinite Wisdom, has, in 
he short compass of his brief record, taught more 
infallible lessons of human nature, as to all its 
forms of excellence and deformity, than can be 
gathered from all the uninspired writers of the world 
beside, lie thus writes, Hear, ye children, the instruc- 
tion of a father, and attend to know understanding. 
Get wisdom; get understanding; forget it not; nei- 
ther decline from the words of my mouth : forsake 
her not, she shall preserve thee ; love her, and she 
shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; 
therefore, get wisdom; and with all thy gettings, 
get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall pro- 
mote thee ; she shall bring thee to honour; she shall 
give to thine head an ornament of grace, a crown 
of glory shall she deliver to thee. 

The leading object, in this connexion, was to en- 
force the obligation under which you all are laid, to 
make your attainments and resources auxiliary to 
virtue and religion. I know that it is in vain to en- 
force this with hope of success, from the obvious 
reasonableness of the duty alone, or from simple ab- 
stract considerations. I would bring that sanction, 
which you are compelled to give, to that virtuous 
and pious character, in which this obligation is felt 
and discharged. Let education, intelligence, and 
opportunities for usefulness, lead to true virtue and 



148 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



religion. Let moral excellence be added to all the 
ordinary attainments of life, and what an amount of 
confidence, of respect, of credit, is at once secured. 
More is gained in a day, than wealth or wisdom, 
than worldly possessions of whatever kind, can ever 
gain or give. 

There is a principle in human nature, with all its 
love of sin, and hatred of true religion, that, unbid- 
den, yields a tribute of respect to moral and reli- 
gious worth : that will confide in its friendship and 
protection, when bleeding and driven in despair from 
the treachery of sinful men. 

Intellect alone may command a moment's admira- 
tion and wonder, like a blazing meteor, but it is 
moral excellence that must impart the rich and mild 
radiance of the evening star. A wide range of influ- 
ence always carries with it something forbidding and 
distrustful, where religious principle is not found to 
preserve and guide. God himself, as a being of 
intellect, perfectly pervading and commanding, is a 
being to be dreaded ; but when this mighty intellect 
is associated with holiness, is a being to be loved 
and adored. We have embedded in our own souls 
too much selfishness and covetousness to confide 
strongly in the integrity and charity of any man, 
where great interests are involved, if we are not 
persuaded that moral principle is sure to govern. 
As you contrast the respect which you invariably 
cherish for moral and religious principle, as illustra- 
ted in life, with that distrust and suspicion you carry 
towards those who are without it, does not your 
own soul prompt you to the cultivation of that 
character for virtue and religion 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



149 



While there is something fascinating in human 
elevation, as seen in the range of worldly influence, 
there is at the same time something cold, and 
cheerless, and forbidding, as you view it, all sink- 
ing under the stroke of death. Here all love, if not 
respect, dies, where } r ou are unable to admit the asso- 
ciations of moral worth. Men live, in our grateful re- 
membrance, only as they seize on onr affections, by 
the valuable memorials of their own virtue. You may 
wander amid the tombs of the illustrious dead; you 
may call up all that was great and commanding in 
their character while living ; and what mingled 
emotions spring in the soul as you contemplate their 
moral character ? There is something peculiarly 
cold, save where you can look down and mark the 
sleeping remains of moral goodness ; and there is 
often a pleasure, almost unmingled delight, in the 
silent tomb of a devoted saint, while damp and 
gloomy is the charnel house of those who lived with- 
out religion, and died without hope. There is here, 
nothing which mind can contemplate with pleasure, 
or which virtue can love. And to feel this, it is not 
necessary to crowd the lives of the departed with 
exalted excellence, or with flagrant sins. Nor have 
we to borrow from their future state the impression 
of spirits once animating these mouldering ashes of 
peace and glory, or of death and hell. Beside all 
this, there is a principle in our moral being, that 
looks with respect, and almost veneration, on moral 
and religious character ; and that raises its excel- 
lence, as death has closed its earthly career. 

You all know how anxious surviving friends 
are, to write upon the monuments of their dead, 

13* 



150 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



some moral virtue, some religious feeling, as foreign 
as it may have been to the whole course of their 
lives. And what youth, in the high career of his 
irreligious life, would not shudder at the thought, 
that his grave stone would soon give the full por- 
trait of his character, and tell, when dead, each 
secret of his life ? 

I wish you to review the impressions which arise 
in your own minds, while contemplating character, 
the living or the dead, as } 7 ou clothe or divest them 
of true religion. Take Hannah More and Madame 
de Stael, Mrs. Sherwood and Lady Morgan. The 
splendid actress or Queen Elizabeth, and Harriet 
Newel. Take Howard, on his errands of mercy, 
disrobing the prisons of their terrors, and the sleep- 
less monarch of ambition, rich in human glory. The 
lordly Bishop, amid the halls of Calcutta, and the 
devoted Martyn, dying beneath the suns of S\ria. 
Lord Apthorpe, in aspiring covetousness, and 
David Brainard, in the wigwam of the Indian. 
The great conqueror of nations, in the pride of his 
glory, and Samuel J. Mills, the poor African's 
friend, in the bosom of the deep. What means all 
this diversity of feeling ? Why, as you undervalue 
religion, and shrink from its spirit and its claims, 
are you so instinctively compelled to yield it the 
tribute of your respect, when viewed distinct from 
its immediate demands on you ? Beloved youth, 
you carry within you, deep in your souls, that prin- 
ciple which compels you to decide for virtue and 
religion ; and it is one of those deep and durable 
principles, which will cause you undying angui- h, 
if ihat virtue and religion are found to have no fixed 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



151 



and permanent residence in your hearts. To have 
forfeited forever what you forever must respect and 
honour, will be an eternal stimulus to self reproach, 
the fire that shall never be quenched. 

Do you ask, what shall we do ? follow the direc- 
tion of inspired truth, and the lesson of wise expe- 
rience. Get wisdom ; get understanding. Exalt 
her, and she shall promote thee ; she shall bring 
thee to honour ; she shall give to thine head an 
ornament of grace ; a crown of glory shall she deli- 
ver thee. Hear, O, my son, and receive my sayings, 
and the years of thy life shall be many. 



152 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The certain method of securing temporal prosperity. — The formation of 
a virtuous and religious character. — Obstacles which strongly oppose 
the formation of such a character. — 1. Strong desire for public action, 
and aversion to laborious exertion. — 2. Love of games. — 3. Want of 
serious reflection, sobriety, and temperance. — 4. Neglect of the gospel, 
as the only rule of duty, and way of life, and salvation. 

There is almost universally a strong desire to 
secure valuable and extended possessions in this 
world, and such as are necessary to usefulness, it is 
proper that we should seek to gain. The wisest 
and most successful method of doing this, is beauti- 
fully pointed out in the gospel. Seek ye first the 
kingdom of God, and his righteousness ; and all 
these things shall be added unto you. " The 
things" to be added are the temporal blessings of 
life, those external advantages and worldly posses- 
sions which contribute to true enjoyment and use- 
fulness. And Jesus Christ, who makes this promise, 
declares, as an evidence and assurance of its value 
and accomplishment, your heavenly Father knoweth 
that ye have need of all these things. 

Cultivate the spirit, discharge the duties of the 
gospel, and all these things shall be yours. Give 
that preference in your interest and affections, which 
its pre-eminence demands, its infinite value claims, 
and you have secured to 3*011 those inferior bless- 
ings of life, of which your heavenly Father knows 
that you have need. The principle will be admitted 



1 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



153 



by all, that it is not the evidence, nor the dic- 
tate, of a wise and enlightened mind, to attend to 
subjects of inferior value, while those of incompa- 
rably greater interest, are endangered or neglected : 
Noi would it be any more so, to overlook the pre- 
scribed and only method of attaining the objects of 
desire. And yet how few, in their eager pursuit ot 
the possessions of life, regard this only ceitain 
method of their attainment ? 

They more often press directly towards their ob- 
jects of interest and ambition, regardless of that 
method of certain success, in laudable pursuits, which 
superior wisdom has devised. And you are probably 
aware, too, that the great mass of men generally 
regard this divinely prescribed method of securing 
the possessions of this world, as most unfavourable to 
its speedy and enlarged possession. Most men feel 
that religion is an embarrassment in the way of 
worldly prosperity. If it is so, the gospel has en- 
tirely mistaken this whole subject ; and, if I am not 
very much deceived, an actual examination of the 
world will show, that religion is a most powerful 
auxiliary towards the attainment of worldly posses- 
sions of every valuable kind. 

You have already seen how favourable it was to the 
acquisition of intellectual knowledge, at once and 
powerfully arousing and stimulating those immortal 
principles on which true knowledge rests. And as 
it prompts to industry, love of usefulness, secures 
confidence and credit, and from principles of hon- 
esty, forbids rash and hazardous speculation and 
extravagance, it can hardly fail, (without calling 
in the aid of mystery and miracles of special provi- 



154 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



dence) to secure the most enlarged prosperity. And 
when a religious man fails of success in this world, 
in any laudable pursuit, it almost always arises from 
some defect which it is not the province of religion 
to cure, or from want of real piety itself. And one 
fact is obvious, truly religious men seldom ever do 
llmvately fail of success in the virtuous pursuits of 
imniau life. 

Do you say this seeking first the kingdom of 
God and his righteousness, through the prescribed 
method of the gospel, is not. indispensable to the at- 
tainment of the most enlarged earthly estates and the 
highest possessions that enrich mankind ? In one 
sense this is true, and in another it is not true. Men 
do sometimes secure these wide possessions without 
religion, and with no regard to religion, but have 
they any certainty of attaining them ? and is it wise 
to take a doubtful course, when you have one pointed 
out that is sure ? 

Another question, do not such men lose the value 
of their possession, by the unwise and unprescribed 
method of their attainment ? Actually unfit them- 
selves to enjoy them, by that secret poison which 
has become diffused through the soul, in those habits 
of thought and feeling, with which they have pur- 
sued and attained the object of their worldly lusts? 
And withal secured a character that is as unlovely in 
the eyes of true wisdom and virtue, as it is painful 
in possession. 

''Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a 
man's life consists not in the abundance of the things 
which he possesseth." The worldly possessions of 
many men, are the blast of their reputation, the 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



155 



poison of their peace, and the destruction of their 
souls — actually their poverty. And can such men 
be said to have attained the good things of this life ? 
Not at all. Or if they have inscribed upon them 
their titles, it is a miserable possession, and all be- 
cause they have poisoned the heart that would enjoy 
them, and perverted the principles that would use 
them, and may after all be poor in the midst of 
wealth, and miserable within the reach of enjoy- 
ment ; "though rich and increased in goods, and 
have needjol nothing, yet they are poor, and wretch- 
ed, and miserable, and blind, and naked, and inneecl 
of all tilings." And all this from the fact, that they 
chose their own way in securing the things of this 
world. Then will you point to these cases in wide 
departure from the gospel precept, and question the 
value of its direction ? O! seek first the kingdom 
of God and his righteousness, and all these things 
shall be added unto you. 

My object lias been to prompt you to make the 
attainment of religion and religious influence the 
end of all your advantages and possessions. To 
show that this was the duty to which God pointed 
you, and to which reason urged. 

The subject before us, so far as we have consider- 
ed it, implies that there are difficulties in the way of 
this, which are often of a serious and destructive 
character. The removal of these is a subject of 
unquestionable importance. The gospel suggests 
a general method which would be perfectly adequate 
to the object in question, which is to place the sub- 
ject, the claims, the duties, and prospects of mo- 
rality and religion, in that commanding station, 



156 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



which, from their nature, they must eternally occupy, 
when things become viewed in their relative import- 
ance. 

But there are serious obstacles in the way of 
doing this. There is no difficulty in securing the 
acknowledgment from every man that this is reason- 
able and a duty ; but to make him feel the immediate 
demand and his privilege, is not so easy. I would 
therefore point out some of those obstacles and evils 
which stand in the way of this invaluable character. 

I have already in other connexions alluded to 
many of these, I shall barely refer to them, and 
present some more. One which I have mention- 
ed is the passionate desire for public action and 
immediate gain. Another, the love of idleness, and 
aversion to laborious effort. Imperfect education, 
and the love of light and useless reading. Another, 
habits of useless intercourse, associations which 
preclude intellectual and moral improvement, and 
which, at the same time, cultivate a vain, proud, 
dissipated, and unstable character. 

Another, is the love of games, absorbing those 
calm and peaceful hours, so favourable to useful read- 
ing, reflection, and valuable intercourse. From an 
almost constant residence for near fifteen years, with- 
in the walls of our literary institutions, and from ex- 
tensive acquaintance with the society that surround- 
ed them, I am prepared to say, that the love of 
games is one of the most ruinous indulgences, to 
which youth of either sex can be addicted, and those 
who are so do, in almost every case, fail of ultimate 
success in life, seldom if ever dislpay those deve- 
lopments of intellectual power, or reach those moral 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



157 



excellencies, which otherwise might have adorned 
their character. There is a counteracting, a poi- 
soning, a withering influence in these habits, which 
almost invariably blasts the fair prospect of respecta- 
bility and excellence. In your youthful habits, so in- 
teresting from their permanence and power ; in the 
first arrangements of your homes, so endearing from 
the freshness of their charms, and from the promise 
of future good they unfold, as well as from the wide 
influence you exert on the more ordinary walks of 
life, allow me to ask you, as a friend to your best 
good and the best good of society, is it not wise and 
prudeut, to dismiss these habits for ever? 

Another obstacle in the way of securing first the 
kingdom of God and his righteousness, or of fixing 
your alFections permanently on the great subjects of 
religion, arises from want of habits of serious reflec- 
tion, sobriety, and temperance. The great attain- 
ments of piety never will be secured, without 
rational, serious, and continued reflection. The 
calling in of the mind from its wanderings and 
visionary speculations, to dwell, with the conside- 
rateness of sober reason, on the claims of God, the 
duties of men, and the destiny of immortals, with 
those religious subjects which stand connected with 
the government of God, and the everlasting inte- 
rests of man. 

Not only is this essential, but those restless and 
ungovernable passions, vain flights of fancy, and 
visionary speculations of mind, and hopeless indul- 
gences of desire, with all that boundless and inde- 
scribable range of youthful imaginings and dreams 
of wakeful romance, which crowd upon the minds, 
14 



158 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



and so often wholly absorb the hearts of the young 
and ardent ; all this must be checked and subdued, 
and the mind made to dwell on the sober and sub- 
stantial realities of life, and the heart become chain- 
ed to the more valuable considerations of present 
and future welfare. The habit to which I allude is 
more easily understood from experience, and more 
justly conceived than accurately described ; and it 
is impossible to make any one feel, who has never 
analyzed and followed the workings of an active, 
ardent, and visionary mind, how extremely unfa- 
vourable these indulgences are to virtuous reflection 
and religious knowledge ; and it is from this native 
want of sobriety of mind, the calm and useful rest- 
ing of the affections on real and valuable objects, I 
ground my most serious and decided objection to 
the whole class of light and fictitious literature. It 
seizes on this native buoyancy of the soul, this rest- 
less roving of the heart ; nourishes, by the luxurious- 
ness of fancy, and ultimately engenders half the 
misanthropy and insaneness of our world, and unfits 
multitudes more for any thing like useful reflection 
and religious principle. I would say, bring down 
your minds, and resolutely bind your hearts to things 
substantial, useful, permanent, and religious. Do 
this, and you will soon find how reasonable, as well 
as holy, are the claims of the kingdom of God and 
his righteousness upon you ; and, I would trust, 
realize the blessed result of its attainment, in the 
direction of that course it so wisely prescribes. 

I cannot wholly pass by a brief consideration of 
the value of temperance, or its want, as one of the 
great obstacles in the way of usefulness and religion, 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



159 



and the claims which humanity brings upon all 
our youth, to aid directly in that cause, on which 
such invaluable interests are reposed. 

I doubt not at all, and I am fortified in this opinion 
by the settled convictions of those who have long 
examined this subject, that with all that has been 
done, Intemperance is still one of the chief obstacles 
to the increase of useful knowledge and true religion 
in our world. As to the subjects of this evil, there can 
scarcely remain a hope of their moral benefit, till 
induced to an utter abandonment of their indulgence, 
however limited it may be. And the youth who, in 
such a day as this, will persist even in its unfrequent 
occurrence, may dismiss the hope of a religious 
character, and of ever attaining the kingdom of 
God; and, indeed, anything like worldly prospe- 
rity. God, in token svisible and deadly, has spoken 
out his disapprobation, and made thousands of 
graves sound an admonitory lesson, which no rea- 
roning nor persuasion could before enforce. Taking 
the danger to be incurred, the obligation to be 
exemplary, the confidence and character to be for- 
feited, that partial delirium and temporary blindness, 
stupidity, and madness which even occasional indul- 
gence creates, with that immediate and utter aliena- 
tion of the soul from anything like sober and 
encouraging reflection on religious truth and duty, 
and the utter inconsistency of this excited state, to 
favour the least influence of the Divine Spirit, and the 
soul becomes hopeless as to permanent impressions 
of good, and soon alienated forever from anything 
like spirituality of thought and feeling. And on 
such, (read Scripture truth, mark Providence,) on 



160 DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 

such the Spirit of God is not seen to rest ; and in 
such a day as this, nothing is found there but a 
melancholy anticipation of speedy ruin, or a life 
worse than early death. 

There is also an indifference to this subject, 
a lightness with which it is viewed, and a trifling 
with its most appalling spectacles and most tremen- 
dous consequences, which is almost as unfavourable 
to the cultivation of a better spirit of religious feel- 
ing, as actual indulgence itself; while it shows 
a coldness, a callousness of heart, an utter want 
of humane sensibility, which is forbidding and 
painful, as the loud laugh at the death bed, and 
the mocking of its groans. Ah ! is there any thing 
at which to smile, in that more than widowed mo- 
ther, who, with her offspring, flies from home to life 
and safety ? Is there any thing at which to trifle, in 
the bloated form that sinks to the grave, a loathsome 
wreck of body and of soul ? Those who are thought- 
less on this momentous subject, must be far from that 
state of mind, of social sympathy, of kindness and 
charity, of moral feeling respecting the present and 
the future, which the gospel makes essential to the 
hope of forgiveness, and the culture of piety. The 
spirit of the gospel is a spirit of social interest, and 
love for man's best good and permanent enjoyment. 

One of two things is true of such, they are either 
void of that moral sensibility, which is the founda- 
tion and security of true virtue, or they have become 
hardened and familiar to these scenes, by their own 
indulgence, or the sad indulgence of near relatives 
and friends. Be assured that there is something 
wrong; for a soul that can trifle with this, and the 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



161 



efforts for its remedy, can do so with the divinely 
portrayed evils and penalties of sin, and with all 
the divine efforts of mercy to save mankind. On 
such, the truths of the kingdom of God and his righ- 
teousness, will have no saving efficacy. As the 
young man trifles with this, he is probably trifling 
with his own ultimate experience, and laughing 
at the reflection of his future shame. And she, 
who can smile, where tears are demanded, or fail to 
weep and mourn at others woes, with no heart to 
feel, nor hands to aid in efforts to relieve, may yet 
be made herself to weep, and feel these woes as 
deep and durable in her own soul. Thoughtless- 
ness now, and a trifling air in this great cause, is 
but a melancholy prospect of a change as lamenta- 
ble as it may appear distant. Could all this be done 
away, and our youth rejecting those stimulants that 
bewilder reason and drown sensibility, and those 
strong habits of inattention and disregard of the 
deep seated maladies and deadly evils that are prey- 
ing upon their fellow-men, and under the guidance 
of an unclouded mind, and the prompting of a kind 
heart, be made alive to their privilege and duty, 
their nature and interest would unitedly constrain to 
the work of gospel charity. And to this unclouded 
and unbewildered reason, to this kind and sympa- 
thizing heart, we might come with better hopes of 
lodging there the ennobling principles of the gospel. 

Which leads me to speak, in conclusion, of one 
more obstacle to the attainment of the kingdom of 
God and his righteousness, which is a want of daily 
reference to the only source of intelligence respecting 
its nature and its claims, and the only hope of moral 
14* 



162 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



excellence. You refresh and revive your decayed 
strength ; you invigorate and adorn your dying 
natures, and why will you not instruct immortal 
mind with the sublimities of truth, and adorn the 
undying soul with the charity it breathes ? Would 
you not be classed with heavenly intelligences ? 
Tremble, lest you be found naked and deformed, 
when the cloudless light of eternity shall shine 
around you. Come to the study of the truth as it is 
in Jesus; the gospel of your salvation. 

" This book, this holy book, on every line 
Marked with the seal of high divinity; 
On every leaf bedewed with drops of love 
Divine, and with eternal heraldry, 
And signature of God Almighty stamped 
From first to last: this ray of sacred light, 
This lamp from off the everlasting throne, 
Mercy took down, and in the night of time 
Stood, casting on the dark her gracious bow; 
And ever more beseeching men, with tears 
And earnest sighs, to read, believe, and live." 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



163 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Obstacles to the formation of moral and religious character continued. 
— 1. The ordinary amusements of the young. — The Theatre. — 
Dancing, &c. — 2. Erroneous principles respecting the standard of 
morals in the different sexes. — 3. Impression that personal character is 
unknown. — The wisdom and mercy of God in disclosing the depravities 
of men. His forbearance and goodness towards the guilty. 

True wisdom consists in seeking valuable objects, 
and adapting means to the ends which we have in 
view. And it is the extreme of folly, even were 
there no moral considerations involved, to lose the 
season of successful exertion. Confessedly, the 
greatest object that can engage the interest and 
efforts of men, is the one which I have attempted 
to urge upon your attention. And confessedly, too, 
it is strange, that it awakens no greater anxiety and 
effort to secure at once its full benefit; and most 
of ail, that it should so often be forfeited forever by 
rational beings. So many of our youth actually 
resign the prospect and the hope of its attainment, 
by wasting the season appointed for its security, 
that I have felt it more important to press the sub- 
ject upon them ; to urge the solemn admonitions of 
divine truth, and to consider some of those obstacles 
which oppose obedience to its direction. There are 
obstacles of an alarming character ; not such, 
howev er, f rom the nature of the subject before us, in 
itself considered, but from the depravity of those to 
whom it is addressed. If you were pure beings, 
there would be no obstacles in your way to useful- 



164 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



ness, to honour and to Heaven — and all the temp- 
tations and difficulties, now so destructive, would 
be but stimulants and auxiliaries in the way to im- 
mortal life. They would affect you no more than 
they did the pure mind of the Saviour. They might 
cause you to weep, but they would not cause you to 
sin. Let then the obstacles you meet reflect upon 
the natures and the characters which you bear, and 
remind you, that these require entire renovation. 

The difficulties which stand in the way of seeking 
first the kingdom of Heaven, and ultimately reach- 
ing all that is desirable, to some extent, we have 
already examined. The last which I mentioned 
was the fatal habit of disregarding the only source 
of intelligence respecting the nature and value of 
virtue and religion, with the methods of its saving 
attainment. I must dwell still farther on this subject. 
It is peculiarly appropriate to the condition of youth. 
A change in the habits of those who have passed 
this interesting period of life, is hardly to be expect- 
ed, melancholy as the fact may appear. 

The next obstacle to the security of religion and 
that righteousness which the kingdom of God de- 
mands, I shall consider in the comprehensive term 
of those ordinary amusements, upon which there is 
such a diversity of feeling and conduct, and which 
are generally sustained by the young. Upon this 
subject it is difficult to speak, and I might pass it 
entirely, did it not lie so directly in the course of 
discussion prescribed — that silence might be consi- 
dered as a testimony on my part of the very trifling 
influence which all this exerts upon youthful charac- 
ter. My reason for ordinary silence on these sub- 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



165 



jects, arise from the conviction, that a direct attack 
would neither remedy their evil tendency, nor appear 
demanded in the eyes of those whom they most 
directly influence. I have rather felt, that an en- 
larged mind, correct education, a refined taste, 
moral sensibility, and, above all, the pervading in- 
fluence of the gospel, would the soonest remove all 
the difficulties arising from this source, and that an 
indirect, rather than a direct application, would most 
effectually remove the obstacles in question. 

The Theatre, the Circus, the Opera, and the cham- 
ber of mirth, will no doubt remain open and throng- 
ed, till there shall be an elevation of public intellect, 
an improvement of public taste and moral feeling, too 
pure and refined to seek and enjoy these crowded 
scenes. That such a time will come, we have not a 
doubt; that we behold its approach, we verily believe. 
The question with me, as a brother and a father, as 
a casuist and a Christian, is not simply, whether all 
or any one of these amusements, separately or in 
themselves considered, are injurious to mental and 
moral character, as to their immediate influence I 
mean: not whether, if these did not exist, our youth 
would seek and secure more vitiating recreations. 
But the question with me is, whether these very 
amusements, one and all, as virtuous and innocent 
as they may be, do not fit the mind, and prepare 
the way for those scenes of grosser immorality and 
danger, for which they are professedly made a sub- 
stitute. And are they not, at the same time, the 
obvious cause of those more gross, profane, and fatal 
habits of recreation, which pervade the lower walks 
of life — the invariable and legitimate cause of those 



166 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



highways to death and Hell, which are crowded by 
the debased and abandoned. There is not a man on 
earth, who understands the resources and results of 
the pleasures of which I have spoken, who will 
question the truth of this declaration. 

Then, I say, the question is not, how much inno- 
cence is there here ; how much benefit may there be; 
but the question is, what is the result, as anticipa- 
ted from their character, and as seen from the his- 
tory and existing state of public morals? Let that 
great question be settled, and the whole subject to 
my mind is disposed of at once. It is the same as 
the subject of intemperance ; not whether I may 
indulge now with safety and profit, but am I in dan- 
ger of ultimate injury, and do I send others to ruin 
and to death ? 

You will not understand me, however, as allowing 
that all these things have intrinsically no moral 
character. The very power and permanence of 
their distant results, allow that they exert no imme- 
diate injury, stamp them with a moral character of 
no questionable order. There is no species ot 
human recreation among the low, no sources of 
guilt and danger, but have borrowed themselves, if I 
may so speak, come down as imitations of the habits 
in higher life, changed only to suit the society and 
circumstances, where they appear more gross and 
destructive, because the restraints and securities of 
educated society are unknown. Let all those bright 
and bewildering scenes of human enchantment be 
suspended in the higher walks of life, where they 
are spread with such apparent innocence and profit; 
not only would the nursery of those inferior be 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



167 



closed, but the strongest stimulants to their existence 
would be removed: for you have not yet to learn, 
that there are few habits in the low walks of life, but 
what are gross imitations of what is seen in more 
refined and elevated society. I say without hesita- 
tion, the youth who support these scenes in their 
purest form, create and continue vice and debauch- 
ery, in their most gross and deadly character, in 
circles of society below them. 

Not only would I present this view of the subject, 
but I will ask the intelligent and virtuous youth of 
either sex, with all the innocence and purity you can 
give to these scenes, are they not linked to a chain 
of downward and deteriorating causes, while they 
never are to upward and more virtuous associations ? 
And with all the pure, and innocent, and intelligent 
which you can assemble, do you not find there, in 
crowded numbers, those who are already poisoned 
with vice and shame; whose society under other 
circumstances you would not for a moment allow? 
And do you not think that virtuous sensibility is 
sullied, and that modesty should blush, as the crowds 
of the theatre are surveyed in their mixed and 
abominable character; with those exciting causes to 
deeds of darkness and shame, so profusely spread in 
open blaze,, as well as in more secret retirement ? 
And do you not think that youthful delicacy is too 
much exposed, when, away from the parental eye 
and home, in the place of public resort, at the cold 
hour of midnight, with the excitements and stimu- 
lants of the gay scene, with all those nameless evo- 
lutions that would, under any other circumstances, 
disgrace modesty itself ; and then, exhausted, return, 



168 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



perhaps, under the guardianship of a stranger, at 
that season, when all is silent and retired at home, 
when every thing conspires to awaken fears for vir- 
tue, peace, and life itself? I will say nothing here 
of the immorality of all this ; but I ask, is it not, in 
every view, wholly at war with unsullied virtue and 
delicacy, with true religion and moral culture? If 
so, is it not an obstacle in the way of attaining the 
kingdom of God, and destructive to the hope of his 
righteousness ? 

To be prepared for this amusement, we must first 
commit our children to the care of individuals with 
whom you would not associate, and whose very pro- 
fession is a bar to all refined and virtuous society. 
We must send them from our home, generally to a 
place of hazardous resort, at hours of blighting 
influence, and at an age of tenderest and most deli- 
cate susceptibility, and for wliat ? to practice move- 
ments, attitudes, evolutions, which modesty forbids, 
and which common delicacy would disallow, under 
any other possible circumstances of life. 

There is no resort of wide and ruinous debauch- 
ery, where the unsuspecting are decoyed and ruined ; 
where this species of amusement is not considered an 
essential tributary. Around these purlieus of hell 
is thrown a brilliancy that catches the eye, while 
strains of enlivening and voluptuous music salute the 
ear ; within, the lascivious movements of the dance 
bewilder and enchain the young ; while the unsus- 
pecting, and the mature in vice, sink together in 
infamy and death. Can this be gainsayed ? No : 
these ten thousand reservoirs of robbery and crime, 
and endless wo, are fed by the power of music and 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



169 



the dance. Consider also what nations, and what 
communities are most addicted to indulgence in this 
amusement. ? France, Italy, and Barbarians. And 
as to morals and virtue, purity and chastity, what 
are France and Italy ? Facts here, are too appalling 
to be disclosed. Say not that this amusement has 
its origin in refinement, because you see it reigning 
in capitals and in circles of fashion. This is no part 
and no evidence of the wisdom, the dignity, and 
worth of elevated and refined society. Its origin is 
barbarian, and its affinities are lust and moral de- 
basement. The field of its rank luxuriance, is 
among the vulgar and abandoned. 

There is, unquestionably, in the amusement itself, 
in its most innocent forms and limited exercise, a ten- 
dency to inflame passion, to poison virtue, to destroy 
modesty, to endanger purity, and to lead to more 
gross and deadly ev ils. If not, so much is true, sin 
and death have so seized an innocent recreation, that 
it has subserved their cause in maturing crimes at 
which humanity shudders ; and in annihilating hopes 
and destroying souls, beyond computation. Who 
that is wise, will cultivate and allow such recreations 
with such perils. 

Allow them simply unfavourable to t' e kingdom 
of God and its hopes, and who would desire them ? 
As dying and immortal beings, who of you would 
crowd the last days and hours of life with such 
recreations, though innocent ? Ah, there is in our 
nature, when we bring eternity to view, a shrinking 
back from their indulgence. The conflagration of 
the house of mirth, consigning thousands to eternity, 
sends a shock to the soul ; and that, too, wholly 
15 



170 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



unlike the emotion that fills the mind, as the crowded 
ship sinks in the deep, or an explosion sends souls 
in an instant to eternity. As the youth, in her 
bloom, falling from the precipice and lost in the 
flood, drew us to the spot with tenderest sympathy ; 
he who falls and mingles his death groans with the 
sounds of mirth, appals and repels the very heart of 
affection. And why this difference of feeling ? simply 
the moral diversity of the circumstances under which 
these souls exchanged worlds. 

Moral principle decides this instinctively, and tells 
us plainly, there is something besides innocent re- 
creation here.* This moral impression no one can 
erase, and it is no doubtful monitor of youthful 
habits. 

If I have proved that these things are unfavourable 
to intellectual and moral culture, serious reflection, 
and religious duty, I have, of course, satisfied you 
as to their unfriendliness and opposition to the king- 
dom of God and his righteousness ; and your sacri- 
fice of one or the other, will be according to your esti- 
mation of their relative value. If you estimate them 
above the kingdom of God and his righteousness, you 
will of course not surrender them for the possession 
of a holy heart, and a godly life ; yet I doubt not 
you see the impossibility of possessing and enjoying 
both. If the views which I have expressed on these 
subjects are neither philosophical nor scriptural, 
they will of course pass as my private opinion. And 



* The above remarks, togetherwith others that follow, were some time 
since sanctioned and published by the American Tract Society, as 
furnished by the author. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



171 



if they are not sustained by actual experience, I am 
wholly mistaken in the views which I have enter- 
tained of human life. 

There is another obstacle, which, for want of a 
more appropriate designation, I shall call erroneous 
principles of judgment and conduct, which exten- 
sively prevails in society, respecting the habits of 
youth. 

You are aware of the great diversity between the 
sexes, as to moral impressions and religious charac- 
ter : how much higher is the standard of morality, 
and how much more general religious reform- 
ations are among our sisters and our daughters, 
than among our brothers and sons. How is this to 
be accounted for ? Not alone, as may be thought 
from the liveliness of the sensibility of one class, 
and the ease with which they are influenced. The 
erroneous principles of judging, and acting, to 
which I have alluded, and the amusements of life, 
which I have just reviewed, will, to my mind, give 
the clear and satisfactory solution. 

The education of our daughters, generally, is no 
more religious than that of our sons ; indeed, the 
boarding-schools of the former, are generally not 
as well disciplined as to pious influence, as the col- 
leges of the other ; and yet the influence of piety 
and religion, is altogether on the other side. 

First, I will allude to the erroneous principle of 
judging, and of acting, which prevails among our 
youth, and which are not excluded from the habits 
of feeling and of life, among the more advanced. 
The principle is this, of requiring a stricter morality, 
ja more decided and permanent sobriety ; greater 



172 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



purity of language, discreetness of deportment, cir- 
cumspection of life, from one sex, than from the 
other. 

I do not say, that we require too much from the 
one ; far from it ; but too little is demanded from the 
other. While this is like a wall of fire to the one. 
the want of it invites the other away from all its 
securities and benefits. 

And here I must say, that the wisdom and cor- 
rectness of principle lie upon our side ; while those 
who are suffering the most from this false principle, 
appear the least willing to correct it. My meaning 
is this : our sex will not tolerate vices in the other 
which they do in ours. Where is the female who 
could lift her head in life, whose language was 
vulgar and profane ; whose habits were shaded with 
the most partial intemperance, or on whose virtue a 
shadow of suspicion could be thrown ? And yet f 
are these barriers in the way of men ? Are they 
regarded such, even by those whose unsullied virtue 
we admire ? If these habits are kept out of view, 
they form no effectual exclusion from virtuous- 
society. 

What young man, though of no better reputation, 
would give his heart and hand to one, whose cha- 
racter was thus suspicious and sullied ? And yet 
how often is this the case, with those who, of all 
things on earth, short of the immediate protection 
of God, should seek the friendship and protection of 
nothing but unsullied virtue and tried integrity? 

While these feelings and habits which I have 
mentioned are an effectual barrier to the recep- 
tion and settlement of the one sex, in virtuous 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



173 



and refined society, they are not such to the other ; 
hence, the virtue and purity of the one have a thou- 
sand guards, of which the other knows nothing ; and 
considering what their natures are, they are rather 
prompted to vice, than secured in virtue, by these 
very principles and habits of society. 

There is no redemption for her, who errs but once 
and falls. No years can replace her foot on safe 
and solid ground, or bleach away the stains her mo- 
desty and virtue bear. She is gone, hopelessly and 
irrecoverably gone. And though tremendously se- 
vere, you say it is just. Here lie the safety and 
preservation of her sex. True. And why not reap 
the same benefits for others? They may go to all 
the mad extremes of vice, profaneness, and impurity, 
and often not even lose their hold on solid ground. 
An actual or pretended reformation restores con- 
fidence and kindness of attention, which may have 
been for a moment forfeited and withdrawn. 

That this is the fact with one sex, and not with 
the other, we all know ; and that this is peculiarly 
unfavourable to virtue and religion in all classes, no 
one can deny. To one, it is almost an effectual 
barrier to religion; and towards the other, it evinces 
and becomes the sanction of immoralites, which 
continually lower and vitiate respect and reverence 
for virtue and piety. 

Here is unquestionably an incorrect principle of 
feeling and conduct, and one which demands cor- 
rection. Some of the most powerful guards, to the 
modesty, virtue, and decorum of our sisters and 
daughters, are wholly unfelt and unknown by the 
youth of the other sex. And there is as much cold 
15* 



174 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG, 



neglect and cruelty in the one case, as there is in> 
provident and unmerited regard in the other. While 
the poor, deceived, and ruined victim lies, outcast, 
abandoned, forlorn, and dying, in the lone hovel, 
from which even humanity recoils, who could not be 
redeemed and restored even if she would ; he, who 
deceived and plunged her to that hopeless home, is 
seen walking in his pride and arrogance— setting 
at defiance all virtuous sentiment, and has his abode 
perhaps with intelligence and respectability. This 
is no picture of fancy. And there is cruelty on the 
one hand, and a gross departure from wise and vir- 
tuous principle on the other: and it is astonishing 
that the class of the community, from whom this 
victim has been torn, can tolerate, at all, such men 
as participate in the guilt. Rather let them, by a 
well-regulated public sentiment, more imperative 
than law, and as decisive as executed justice, place 
the base monster, as low in character and as distant 
from regard as he has thrown the victim of his 
crime, and no more admit him to their society and 
home, than the ruined subject of his indulgence. 

Let this be done: let the mothers, the sisters, and 
the daughters of our land, tolerate profaneness, im- 
piety, intemperance, infidelity, and uncleanness, no 
more in our sex than we and they do in theirs : let 
the opinions and habits of society harmonize and 
stand out in practical illustration. Let all these 
immoralities exclude our youth from their esteem, 
friendship, and societ\ 7 , and there is, at once, a check 
to vice and immorality around our youth, which was 
never felt before ; and which would do more than 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



175 



all moral codes besides can ever do. Society 
will never attain its elevation and purity, with the 
essential preparation for the kingdom of God, till 
this is done ; and I would affectionately and so- 
lemnly call upon those whom I now address, se- 
riously to review this whole subject. 

A question of importance, and of delicate interest, 
may arise in your minds. You may say, as mothers 
and daughters, if we adopt this course, in regard to 
the other sex, which has been adopted in reference 
to our own, shall we not lose the hope of reforming 
young men, and take away all stimulus and encou- 
ragement to regain forfeited character? I would 
ask, why not apply this same principle to the un- 
fortunate and fallen of your own sex ; and more es- 
pecially, when, in ours, it is an unprovoked crime, and 
in theirs more generally growing out of the intrigue 
and falseness of others. 

There is a safe principle here. It is this : Go so 
far as to present an encouragement to reform, but 
not so far as to countenance in continued sin, and 
to leave, as is now done, the impression, that vice is 
no effectual barrier from the society of the virtuous 
and refined. Take an elevated stand, and soon you 
will have few victims to reform ; for what young 
man would plunge himself from these pure heights, 
if he knew there was no redemption. 

Another cause of this inequality of virtue and 
religion among the sexes, and equally an obstacle in 
the way of reform among our young men, is the 
character and result of those amusements which I 
have already considered. Youth of both sexes in- 
dulge them. But even in their indulgence, there is 



176 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



a security to the one, which is unknown to the other. 
I will not go into their arrangements. Some of you, 
at least, know what I mean. The theatre, the opera, 
and the chamber of mirth, place restrictions on one, 
which the other do not feel. The hour arrives, 
when all these scenes are closed. The one class are 
handed to their homes, not, I grant, in the most fa- 
vourable state for moral reflection ; but they retire 
home; perhaps to the wakeful solicitude of a mo- 
ther's love, and lie down beneath the kindness of a 
mother's prayer. The other class, now left alone, 
return to the scene of their amusement, and review 
the events of the night; pass their approbation and 
strictures, not always in a manner the most becom- 
ing and chaste, for the nature of the subject in re- 
view does not always admit it. Under lassitude and 
exhaustion, they seek additional stimulants to refresh 
and invigorate. The night is far spent; the remain- 
der is exhausted in feasting, or in games, and a 
weary and diseased frame is dragged out to the la- 
bours of another day, or seeks repose to recruit its 
energies. 

Other species of amusement throw a crowd of 
youth upon the open bosom of our cities, who have 
no homes to revisit ; no parents nor friends, and with 
minds poorly fitted to retire to their solitary repose, 
they are allured by the brilliant retreats that blazon 
around the place of their recreation. Temptations 
are spread ; the charms and chances of gaming are 
before them, and where mere curiosity first led their 
steps, hope of gain now binds them ; and by the in- 
itiatory influence of a solitary night, they are irre- 
coverably lost. Others, wandering from scenes of 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



177 



amusement, soon hear the strains of that voluptuous 
music which never sleeps ; pause at its brilliant ha- 
bitation, and all is gayety within. " They enter, a 
dart strikes through their liver. The house is the way 
to hell ; going down to the chamber of death." 

" I looked, and saw him follow to her house, 

As goes the ox to slaughter ; as a fool 

To the correction of the stocks; or bird 

That hastes into the subtle fowlers snare, 

And knows not, simple thing, 'tis for his life. 

I saw him enter in; and heard the door 

Behind thorn shut; and in the dark, still night, 

When God's unsleeping eye alone can see, 

He went to her adulterous bed. - At morn 

I look'd, and saw him not among the youth : 

I heard his father mourn, his mother weep ; 

For none returned, that went with her. The dead 

Were in her house; her guests in depths of hell : 

She wove the winding sheet of souls, and laid 

Them in the urn of everlasting death" 

A million of youth, paid back in innocence, to 
broken hearts, would not repair the sacrifice, thus 
made in a solitary city. 

This minute detail of the common amusements 
of life, may not appear to be demanded, nor 
entitled to that place, which has here been given. 
Little consideration has been given to these sub- 
jects, and they have been left, to exert their influ- 
ence upon the young, as matters almost of ne- 
cessity. But one who has watched their influ- 
ence, and observed their advancement, and now 
considers the strong dominion which they have 
gained over the public taste, cannot question the 
propriety of efforts to check their advancement, 
They have assumed an influence, gained such ex- 



178 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



tended patronage, are drawing such treasures, at the 
same time becoming so gross and vulgar, that every 
valuable interest is endangered by them. Few cir- 
cles in life are raised above them ; and even do- 
mestic arrangements, where intelligence and piety 
should be expected, are often found yielding to their 
sway, and dignifying their character. Attending 
extravagances and exposures, which have risen and 
reigned in other countries, are fast finding their way 
among us, despoiling the innocence and order of so- 
cial fife, and threatening to impair, if not to ruin, 
our reputation for decorum and piety. If, in the 
advancement of civilization and refinement, such 
wasting influences are to be embodied, we must re- 
sign the hope, that evangelical religion can prosper, 
or that our free institutions can live. The amuse- 
ments of which I have spoken, are assuming a new 
and fearful character, and demanding an introduc- 
tion beyond anticipation and endurance. It was 
said, fifty years ago, "It is amazing to think, that 
women, who pretend to decency and repution, whose 
brightest ornament ought to be modesty, should 
continue to abet, by their presence, so much unchas- 
tity as is found in the theatre."* If this astonish- 
ment was felt then, what ought to be the language 
of amazement now, when an avowed experiment is 
making upon female delicacy and self-respect, and 
which its authors themselves declare, " a bold expe- 
rimenWi It need not be added, that this amuse- 



* Dr. Witherspoon. 

f " Among the causes of vicious excitement in our cities," says Pro- 
fessor Griscom, of New- York, " none appear to be so powerful in their 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



179 



ment holds a strong affinity to the other, and that 
they both borrow their sanction and support from 
the same source, and are alike hostile to true virtue. 
They are equally in the process of " bold experi- 
ment," invading, with rude, and gross, and vulgar 
arrogance, the circles of virtuous refinement. And 
the young, especially, consider their indulgence ne- 
cessary, if not innocent, as an important and almost 
uniform consequence of advancing refinement. They 
forget the new forms under which they appear, and 
the blighting influence with which they strike the 



nature, as theatrical amusements. The number of boys and young men 
who have become determined thieves, in order to procure the means of 
introduction to the theatres and circuses, would appal the feelings of 
every virtuous mind, could the whole truth be laid open to the public. 
In the case of the feebler sex, the result is still worse. A relish for the 
amusement of the theatre, without the means of indulgence, becomes too 
great a motive for listening to the first suggestions of the seducer, and 
thus prepares for the haunts of infamy, and a total destitution of all that 
is valuable in the mind and character of women." 

He adds, '' during the progress of one of the most ferocious revolu- 
tions that ever shocked the face of heaven, theatres, in Paris alone, mul- 
tiplied from six, to twenty -five. One of two conclusions must follow from 
this : either the spirit of the times produced the institutions, or the insti- 
tutions cherished the spirit of the times ; and this will certainly prove, 
that they are either the parents of vice, or the offspring of it." 

The infidel Kousseau, declares, " That the theatre is, in all cases, a 
school of vice." 

Sir John Hawkins, in his life of Johnson, says, " A playhouse, and 
the region about it, are the very hot-beds of vice." 

Archbishop Tillotson, declares, " The theatre a nursery of licentious- 
ness and vice." 

Bishop Collier, says, " That he was persuaded, that nothing had done 
more to debase the age in which he lived, than the stage poets and the 
playhouse." 

And even Plato has declared, " That plays raise the passions, and 
pervert the use of them, and are of course dangerous to morality." 

If this is the united testimony of heathen philosophers, of enlightened 
statesmen, and christian moralists, respecting the theatre, what must be 
the character and effects of the opera and its attending amusement ? 



180 DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



moral sensibilities of society, and the utter annihila- 
tion of virtuous and religious character, which so 
often follow in their steps. 

What is the remedy for all this . ? Some will tell 
you, give innocent recreations, ordinary amusements 
under proper restrictions, and thus keep our youth 
from the resorts of gross immorality and certain 
ruin. But have not these things prepared the way 
already, for the very evils which we deplore ? What 
shall be done? Provide other sources of recreation, 
which shall embody intellectual and moral influence, 
and which shall bind our young men together, in 
the ties of mutual interest, and impart the hope 
of elevation and worth, holding out to them the 
value of mental discipline and religious dignity. 
Time will not allow that justice to this subject, 
which its importance demands. 

I bring the subject, however, to you. Here are 
young men; and for your mental and moral eleva- 
tion, I would ask the interest of all the wise and 
good. I would say to their employers, guardians, 
and friends — admit them to your families ; so fill 
with interest their vacant time, that they may not 
desire hazardous recreation at unseasonable hours, 
either in the retirements of the countr\ T , or in the 
crowds of the city ; nor resort to the places of 
public assemblies and exciting festivities. As re- 
spectable as these may be, they have no ordinary 
temptations. I would say to them, as you value 
health, honour, virtue, life, and religion, keep 
from the resorts of nightly feasting, and from 
the miserable allurements of wine, of lascivious 
music, and of games. Start, beloved youth, in the 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



1S1 



career of virtuous intelligence, and christian charac- 
ter, and when one century shall have rolled its suns 
away, then tell me, did the casuist mistake your 
duty, your interest, and your joy ? 

I will mention but one obstacle more, to the for^ 
mation of virtuous and religious character, which 
is, the impression that prevails among men, that if 
their habits and character are concealed, they will 
be regarded according to the company in which they 
are found and the professions which they make. This 
impres/ion becomes confirmed, by the fact, that men 
are ^nerally treated according to their public cha- 
racter, however strongly suspected their private 
conduct may have been. Whatever impressions we 
may Wve, as to the secrecy of our lives, it would be 
well for us to consider that there is but little about 
us, which is unknown. All that we have said, 
there is some ear that has heard ; and the softest 
whisper we have breathed, has its lodgment there. 

Some eye marks the most silent and solitary foot- 
steps of our life, though trod in darkness : and if no 
tongue reveals the deep secrets of our souls, a mys- 
terious delineation is soon made, that tells to the 
world, as with a herald's voice, just what we are. 

And though it were possible, that secrecy and 
silence could be thrown over guilt and meanness ; 
there is still from the laws of physical being, develop- 
ing in external nature, a clear and constant index to 
secret character ; and the community knows and 
understands the general history of its members ; and 
reads, as with an eye of actual observation, what 
passes in secluded retreats, in silent darkness, and 
16 



162 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



what rises often in the unbreathed emotions of the 
polluted soul. 3Iany a youth early writes his own 
epitaph ; aud his pale and broken form is the 
marble upon which, in lines of guilt, and shame, 
and blood, that epitaph is written. There is no 
such disguise to character as men imagine. And 
let the impression be deeply felt, as it ought to be, 
that not only the eye of God, but the eye of man, 
reads my character ; and it will be a check to 
immorality, which might lead to the formation of 
virtue, and the purity of the gospel. 

It might be profitable to speak of that obstacle, 
allied to this, which arises from disregarding those 
clear developments of character, that will crowd 
the whole of a depraved life into one solitary disclo- 
sure to every eye, and make the issues of an unal- 
terable eternity to settle on the nature of that 
development. 

Now, though it may be decided by a single rash 
and initiatory step, its penalty is made distant and 
uncertain, and dismissed without a thought ; when 
it is coming on, clear, and rapid, and certain as the 
judgment ; and well did the preacher of Israel say, 
Rejoice, O young man in thy youth, and let thy 
heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, walk in 
the ways of thine heart, 'and in the sight of thine 
eyes, but know thou, that for all these things, God 
will bring thee into judgment. 

I have now passed a train of subjects, which I 
considered essential to a just delineation of this 
branch of your practical duties, and of those dangers 
to which, as youth, you are exposed. I would hope 
at least, from their illustration, you may see, that 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



183 



the Bible is full of them, and that while it is a sys- 
tem of the sublimest truth, it is, at the same time, 
the most perfect development of human character, 
and the richest assemblage of moral precepts. That 
all you are and ought to be, is clearly pointed out 
in the word of God, and that with the hand of unerr- 
ing truth and justice, it tears the veil from the guilty, 
and pours the light of Heaven upon their naked 
deformity, and speaks of all their sin and shame, their 
misery and death, with a voice of melting tenderness, 
yet of solemn admonition. 

The subjects over which we have passed, are not 
unsuited to awaken in our minds many serious re- 
flections on the moral natures, susceptibilities and 
characters of men, and 1 think you must be pecu- 
liarly thoughtless, if you have not, partially, at least, 
reviewed some portion of your own private history 
and conduct, on which your destinies are hung. 
The thought may have come already to your soul, and 
may it gain a lodgment there, how kind and indul- 
gent is God, to me, an erring youth. May that 
goodness lead you to repentance. 

The reason why God has made this clear deve- 
lopment of human guilt and shame, in his holy word, 
is, if possible, to reclaim erring men, and to guard 
the unsuspecting from encountering those evils be- 
fore which such multitudes have fallen. At the 
same time, to magnify his grace and forbearance. 
To exhibit and comprehend the mercy and long suf- 
fering of God, in their true and impressive light, we 
must become acquainted with the leading features of 
human character. In no other way can we rightly 



184 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



estimate these Divine perfections, or receive benefit 
from the restriction of the Divine Laws. 

Take the human race, as left unguarded and un^ 
restricted by special influence and Gospel Grace, 
and what do you behold, but an utter forgetfulness 
of God, and the wide prevalence of abominable 
idolatry ? With all the displays of his being and 
perfections, of his providence and care, from hour 
to hour, and from year to year ; with the varied 
seasons of returning and exuberant goodness ; with 
the testimony of all this, for near six thousand years, 
the great mass of mankind are idolaters still. And 
even where idols are unseen, and the gospel is 
proclaimed, the warmest affections are given to ob- 
jects of earth,., as controlling and debasing in their 
influence as the idols of Pagan lands. Before these 
the great mass of our } 7 outh as blindly and as de- 
voutly kneel, and drive from their hearts the God of 
Heaven, and from their blinded eyes the brightening 
evidence of his being, his providence, and his grace. 
To this Idolatry, has been added the most unblush- 
ing blasphemy and impiety : and this has been the 
characteristic, not of a few, not of one nation, or of 
a few of many nations, but it has been the charac- 
teristic of the great mass of mankind. 

We are next led to view the malignant and fiend- 
like passions which multitudes of mankind display. 
It would seem, that war was their employment, and 
bloodshed their province of delight. The great 
globe itself is but one wide arsenal ; while every hill 
and valley, every river and every wave, bear the 
marks of carnage and of death. Men are, and always 
have, under the covetous, envious, jealous, malig- 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 185 

nant, and revengeful passions, been preying upon 
each other ; and souls and families, villages and 
cities, with whole nations, are fast swept from the 
face of the globe into the presence of a holy and 
terrible God, by the murderous hand of human 
cruelty. Under the influence of these malign and 
fiendlike passions, what has not been done on earth, 
and in every portion of our world ? We see not 
alone the wide desolaxions of a legalized and justified 
war, but oppression and injustice, which the poor, 
the widow, and the fatherless, are called to suffer ; 
and even the prophet of God, hanging on the horns 
of the altar, cannot escape the poisoned arrow. 
The persecution, falsehood, treachery, and perjury, 
which rise through the land, you well know. The 
thefts, murders, lewdness, lasciviousness of every 
form ; haughty pride, arrogance, ingratitude and 
slander, coldness, and cruel neglect, with all those 
nameless emotions and actions of unkindness which 
show the sad departure from the human heart and 
human life of the kind sympathies of primeval inno- 
cence, and the tender mercies of unfallen charity, 
which might adorn and bless. And God treats all 
men, thus unkind, cruel, and at war with each other 
and with himself, as his great family of children, 
and would, were it possible, from the nature of his 
being and their constitution, make them happy still. 
His sun rises, his rain falls, his sweet breezes refresh, 
and his fruits sustain them still. While with his 
floods or flames, he might in justice sweep them to 
eternity, he bears them in his arms, as creatures of 

his tenderest care, and with a voice of inexpressible 
16* 



186 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



love, exclaims, " How can I give iliee ap9" Thus 
he would call upon you in his word and works: — 

" To seek him where his mercy shines." 

Here is a character for care and kindness, mercy 
and forbearance, peculiar to God, and but in the 
most inferior degrees, is never seen in any other 
beings. I would follow the train of thought, and 
much of the language of a beautiful and eminent 
writer on the subject before us.* " Were the meek- 
est man that ever lived ; were one of the high 
and holy intelligences of heaven, to catch but a 
portion of omniscience, and survey, at one glance, all 
that hemisphere of our globe, on which the sun now 
shines, and at the next glance behold that other 
half, shrouded in darkness ; could his eye pierce 
into the secret chambers of every human habitation, 
in every city and village ; in all those haunts where 
crimes are veiled by shades of night from human 
eyes : could he view, at one glance, all the abomi- 
nations hourly committed, in every region of the 
world, Pagan, Heathen, savage, and civilized ; exe- 
crable rites, millions of victims, savage torments, 
oppressions of ambition and abused power, inflicted 
tortures, inquisitorial fires, malignant persecutions, 
with prisons, and chains, and dungeons ; the bosom 
bleeding from the assassin's wound ; the poor victim 
of the robber's murder ; the midnight plunderers in 
the abode of honest industry, strangling its inmates, 
and bearing off its treasures ; the pirate plundering 



* Rev. Robert Hall. 



DUTIKS OF THE YOUNG. 



187 



on the seas ; the malevolent and envious devising 
the ruin of his neighbour ; the gambler abandoning 
his own home in cruelty and cold neglect, and 
robbing others by plundering their just support ; the 
sceptic sporting with most sacred truths, poisoning 
minds, and blasting souls ; the atheist defying 
Omnipotence ; the wretch wallowing in the mire of 
uncleanliness ; the drunkard in his revels of debauch ; 
base lrypocrisy and deceit, envious detraction 
and malignant slander, falsehood, and folly, which 
rise from these hearts of deceit and desperate wick- 
edness, and poison the very air of life. I say, could 
he behold all this acting on our globe in the course 
of a single day, and were the elements of nature in 
his hands, would he not, before the sun should set, 
annihilate its countless crowds, that prey like vam- 
pires upon each other's blood ?" 

" Who writes the history 
Of men, and writes it true, must write them bad. 
Who reads, must read of violence and blood." 

Yet God knows and sees it all, and still his tender 
mercy is over all. And does he draw a veil over 
these dark scenes? No; for, then, where would be 
the display of his forbearance, and the hope of their 
remedy ? No ; he has written it all in the volume of 
his truth, and by the blazing light of its own desola- 
tion, he calls upon the world to rid itself of its 
pressing burdens of guilt. He did it once, he will 
do it no more. He has placed in our hands means 
to do it ; and while he is loudly proclaiming in our 
ears the existence and the nature of the evils, shall 
we refuse to repeat his voice, or withhold the record 



188 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



of onr credentials ? No ; for, then, we shall never 
see a remedy. 

In all these scenes of guilt, I would have each ask 
himself, what is my portion ? how stands my re- 
sponsibility in this great question of human morals 
and human misery ? A reformation must be effect- 
ed, or desolation will come, not in the swellings of 
a flood, on whose retreating cloud the bow of mercy 
rose, but in the terrors of an eternal storm. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



189 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Ok Infidelity. — Scepticism, a feature of the present age. — The female 
sex, generally exempted. — Young men, peculiarly exposed to it. — The 
prominent causes of Infidelity. — The constitution and character of 
young men favourable to the action of these causes. — The character- 
istics of Infidelity. — 1. Its uniform ignorance. — 2. Disingenuousness. 
— 3. Its scurrility, grossness, and vulgarity. — 4. Instability . ; — 5. Incon- 
sistency. — G. It is immoral, debasing, and cruel. — 7. Uniformly un- 
successful. — 8. Arrogant and boastful. — 9. It is at war with the 
analogies of nature and Providence. — 10. Contrary to the fulfilled pro- 
phecies of the bible, and the authentic history of the worhi. — Chris- 
tianity. — Its characteristics, as contrasted with those of Infidelity. 

" Behold'st thou, yonder, on the crystal sea, j 

Beneath the throne of God, an image fair, 

And in its hand a mirror large and bright ! 

'Tis Truth, immutable, eternal Truth, 

In figure emblematical expressed. 

Before it, Virtue stands, and smiling sees, 

Well pleased, in her reflected soul, no spot. 

The sons of heaven, archangel, seraph, saint, 

There daily read their own celestial worth; 

And as they read, take place among the just; 

Or high, or low, each as his value seems. 

There each his certain interest learns, his true 

Capacity; and going thence pursues, 

Unerringly through all the tracts of thought, 

As God ordains, best ends by wisest means." 

Every age has something- peculiar to itself, while 
the general features of human character remain the 
same. One strong feature of that character, is 
unbelief of scripture truth. The age in which we 
live, seems peculiarly exposed to the return and 
vigorous assaults of this malign principle, and I 
cannot pass entirely the exposedness of the young, 



190 DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



to its" ruinous influence ; nor neglect to urge upon 
them the strongest defence against its attacks. 

It is a source of pleasure, that we are required to 
address but one class of our youth on the subject 
of infidelity. From this delusion and madness, the 
female sex have generally stood exempt. Whenever 
they have fallen from the high stand that Christian- 
ity assigns them, to the level of scepticism, they 
have become disrobed of their dignity and virtue, 
alike a disgrace to their sex, and monsters in society. 

It is alone almost sufficient to justify the peculiar 
blessings with which Christianity has crowned the 
female sex, that they were never found in opposition 
to its incarnate Author. " He had something to do 
for women, which should at once emancipate them 
from human impositions, and equalize them in divine 
privileges. * None 

of whom appear to have been amongst bis public 
enemies, either during his life, or at his crucifixion. 
Even Pilate's wife warned her husband, on the judg- 
ment seat, to have nothing to do against that 'just 
person.' In like manner, the multitude of women 
who followed the Saviour from the city to Calvary, 
instead of joining with the men in the cry of ' crucify 
him,"* bewailed and lamented him. Indeed, there is 
no instance of any female offering any public indig- 
nation to Christ, while he was on earth."* 

" Not she, with traitorous kiss, her Saviour stung ; 
Not she denied him, with unholy tongue ; 
She, while Apostles shrank, could dangers brave ; 
Last at the cross, and earliest at the grave." 



"The Mary's, 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG* 



191 



Religion has borrowed many of her brightest 
ornaments from the female sex, and uniformly poured 
upon them the choicest of her stores ; and long may 
it continue to be alike their disgrace and ruin, to 
despise and reject the religion of heaven. 

Infidelity has drawn her supporters and her vic- 
tims, mainly, from another class; from the ranks of 
young men, into whose ardent and undisciplined 
minds she has sought to instil the pride of inde- 
pendence, and to look undismayed on the threatening 
aspect of truth, and to call it manliness and fortitude ; 
to meet undaunted the terrors of the grave and 
eternity, and call it philosophy. She has boldly 
declared, that she was the nurse of science; the 
patron of literature ; the liberator of the mind from 
the shackles of a gloomy superstition ; as well as the 
ornament of man in every department of life. She 
has held in one hand her promises and her rewards ; 
and in the glitter of surreptitious charms, stood 
forth the enchantress of nations; while in the 
other, she has grasped the weapon of death beneath 
the folded drapery of the grave ; and millions allured 
have crowded in her train, and sacrificed the soul on 
her altars of blood. 

There are dangers crowding upon our youth and 
upon our whole country, from the widely disseminated 
principles of infidel philosophy. The source from 
which it springs, and the causes that aid its advance- 
ment, should be known and studied by all who are 
exposed to its influence. It should be viewed in its 
true character, and followed out to its final results, 
and with an open and intelligent eye, we should 
read in each step of its progress, the fruits of its 
adoption, and learn, from its practical bearing upon 



192 DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



the interests of our race, the evil or the good, which 
it has the power to achieve. 

What are the sources, the efficient causes of infi- 
delity ? In answering this inquiry, I shall refer to 
the opinions of two of the most commanding writers 
of our country,* and beg you to make yourselves 
familiar with their strong reasoning, and their im- 
pressive illustrations. I will place the causes of 
infidelity before you, in their own language. 

" Undoubtedly the generic cause, without which 
all others would be powerless, is to be sought in the 
alienation of man from God, and his deep aversion 
to the responsibilities of his perfect and eternal go- 
vernment." 

" There is an actual bias of the world towards 
infidelity. The natural propensities of man, as ex- 
hibited by the scriptures and as proved by all expe- 
rience, is a propensity to sin. Sin and infidelity 
are mutually causes and effects. Sin demands and 
prompts to infidelity as its justification; infidelity 
warrants, encourages, and defends sin. Sin derives 
its peace and security from infidelity ; infidelity its 
reception, its support, and friends from sin. Thus, 
in every age, there is a natural bias in man to 
infidelity." " And, in immediate and necessary 
connexion with this, there is a natural biasimhe 
human heart against Christianity." Its restraints, 
its persuasions, its promises, and denunciations are 
all against sin and self-indulgence, and in fa- 
vour of holiness and God. This aversion of 
the human heart to truth and the spirit of holiness, 



* Drs. Dwight and Beecher. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



193 



seeks to create and easily secure, the belief, that the 
gospel is wanting in evidence, and it is at once fear- 
lessly rejected, while its claims lie unexamined. 

" Another fruitful cause of scepticism is found in 
the supposed irresponsibility of man for his opin- 
ions ;*2 and " a demand of evidence on moral sub- 
jects, which the nature of mind renders impossible." 

" The pushing of investigation without first prin- 
ciples, competent instruction, and study, is another 
cause. 

" The society of sceptical men, who are scoffers 
and partisans in the warfare against Christianity ;and 
the contempt and ridicule, with which it is opposed." 

" Another source of danger, is the confidence 
with which Infidel Philosophers assert their doctrines 
and advance their arguments, and in the various 
methods used by them to persuade us, that their 
opinions are embraced by the great body of mankind, 
especially of the ingenious and learned." 

" False conceptions of the nature and prero- 
gatives of reason have been another and abundant 
cause of confusion and scepticism." 

"Another is found in mental dissipation." "And 
still another in professing to believe the truth, without 
obeying it." 

" Undefined and unworthy conceptions of expe- 
rimental religion, as associated with the weaknesses 
and extravagances of indiscreet and fanatical good 
men, are occasions of uncertainty and doubt to 
many minds." 

M Another cause of scepticism, is found in disso- 
lute habits. The process is short and obvious. The 
conflict between the man's conscience and his prac 
17 



194 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



tice, is too severe to be permanently endured. One 
or the other must conform, or there can be no peace* 
To relinquish his guilty pleasures, and sinful ways, 
he is not prepared. These he will not give up, and, 
therefore, his only alternative is, to deceive himself, 
and still his conscience by false testimony." 

To all these causes of infidelity we may add an 
excessive credulity, a servile yielding of the mind 
to the unfounded opinions of others, without the 
labour, the manliness, and the magnanimity of honest 
and laborious investigation. Man will believe what 
he desires to have true, however unfounded and 
absurd, if sustained even by the most weak and 
worthless advocacy. 

All these causes are in constant and vigorous 
operation. They are sustained by interests without 
and by advocates within. Finding a genial bed in 
the human heart, they are sown with the hand of 
most wakeful and active industry: — Spring forth as 
beneath their native skies in rank luxuriance and 
bear a harvest, that yields in every month and every 
hour its abundant fruits. These causes, with all 
the improvements of modern times, the speculation 
of the visionary and the reckless spirit of innovation 
and revolution, have spread over continents, and left, 
on one-half of our world, unnumbered memorials of 
their influence, Their object has been undisguised, 
and the fruits of their advance are of no doubtful 
character. They are written in the private history 
of thousands — in their results on the domestic eco- 
nomy and the social state — on the privileges and 
prerogatives of civil rights, and they have woven 
themselves into the whole structure of national 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



195 



Segislation. They have breathed their spirit and 
carried out their undisguised designs from the high 
place of power to the lowest hovel of seclusion and 
ignorance. A fair experiment has been made of 
the principles and powers of infidelity — made on 
the most broad and imposing scale. It has brought 
to its aid the refinements of fashion; the aid of 
authority ; the pride of intellect ; the most resolute 
and determined spirits ; as brilliant and imposing 
array of power as ever lent its aid to any human 
effort ; and what has it done ? I would have you 
examine and see. 

It would seem to be necessary, that before this 
it should have ceased its efforts; been reposing in 
the triumphs of its victory, or shorn of its strength 
and silenced of its claims, have sunk beneath defeat 
and abandoned its ends. But no : it has neither 
risen to enjoy the one, nor is it prepared to relin- 
quish the other. As it had its rise in human nature, 
it seems destined to reign, while human nature shall 
endure. And each successor in the pathway of this 
world's history, is required to meet and canvass its 
claims. It now appears before the youth of our land, 
and it comes too in every variety of form, which 
the experiments and changes of centuries have en- 
abled it to assume. In the blandishments of fashion, 
in the pride of show, in the sweets of luxury, in the 
boastings of reason, in the indulgence of lust and 
the selfishness of licentiousness and plunder, she 
knocks at every door, and suits her attitude and 
attire to the character and condition that are found 
within. And when unsuccessful in one form, she 
appears in new array, resolute and determined still, 



196 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



and there is no prospect of such a triumph, or of such 
a defeat, as shall suspend the vigour of her exertions, 
or silence the voice of her pretensions. 

I am willing, and it is my desire, that you should 
meet this subject, and meet it as a subject that has 
claims upon you, as youth of intellect and influ- 
ence. If it comes a friend to your interests, receive 
it and defend it ; if an enemy to your safety, repel 
and destroy it. I would say, look at it, in all its 
bearings on private, social, and public interest. Lay 
it beside its opposing principles, and judge for your- 
selves, for which it is wise and safe for you to de- 
cide. Decide in view of argument ; from mature 
judgment, and not from the suggestions of passion. 

I am aware, that in the outset of this investigation 
you are in danger, from an influence already exerted 
upon you, in favour of infidelity, beyond that natu- 
ral bias of the heart, of which we have spoken. You 
may have already associated in your minds with in- 
fidel philosophy, or with that which is its true spirit, 
" an independent, honourable, spirited, magnani- 
mous disposition ;" that disdains the fetters and the 
dictates of opinion, and that can stand alone, and 
decide from its own resources of judgment. It may 
have become your settled belief, that the gospel is 
utterly at variance with the most dignified and com- 
manding qualities of human nature, and that "just 
in proportion to the depth of his piety, man becomes 
narrow-minded and mean spirited, and a stranger to 
the most magnanimous, liberal, and generous views 
and sentiments, which belong to the class of free 
inquirers." You may find it difficult to conceive, 
" how a religion, which demands and cultivates hu- 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



197 



mility, meekness, and self-abasement, should consist 
with that nobleness of mind, and that greatness of 
spirit, without which, man, whatever he may pos- 
sess, becomes degraded and despicable. 1 ' 

Yet, with all the unfavourableness of your nature, 
and the false impressions of your life, I would have 
you come to the subject, and meet it manfully, and 
then decide for yourself. 

Let us inquire what are some of the elements of 
infidelity, as contrasted with the principles of in- 
spired truth. 

1. Its uniform and unblushing ignorance. It 
lives in the denial of truth, rather than in the esta- 
blishment of error. It generally decides early and 
rashly. Infidels almost uniformly become such, 
while young; before they are accustomed to reflec- 
tion and reading, or are able, from the maturity of 
mind, to decide on the strength and validity of ar- 
gument. From this early enlistment, they become 
not inquirers after truth, not accustomed to investi- 
gate its claims, but they at once enter upon the war 
of aggression on the province of truth, or stand as 
the warm defenders of its opposing system: and 
while seeking and arranging arguments for defence, 
they are, of eourse, unfitting and unfitted to examine 
and receive the truth. And, hence it is, that infi- 
delity has almost uniformly recruited her ranks from 
the ignorant and uneducated classes of society. And 
even in those cases, where there has been the great- 
est intellectual cultivation, there has existed, at the 
same time, a most unpardonable ignorance of the 
principles and the defence of the christian system. 
It has still held on its steady and unholy course of 

17* 



193 



DUTIES OF THE YOU.XG. 



denying, and denying where it could not disprove. 
Had the enemies of the gospel studied the system of 
Christianity with one half the industry that its friends 
have studied infidelity, the} 7 would have sundered 
the bonds of their own ignorance, and yielded to the 
ciaims of the gospel. 

1 am well aware that infidel philosophy has long 
lived enthroned in the pride of intellect, and arro- 
gated to herself the clearest minds, and the most 
profound investigation. " It is admitted, that many 
infidels have been ingenious men ; that some of them 
have been learned men ; and that a few of them have 
been great men. Hume, Tindal, and a few others, 
have been distinguished for superior strength of 
mind: Bolingbroke for eloquence of pen; Voltaire 
for brilliancy of imagination ; and various others for 
respectable talents of different kinds. But I am 
wholly unable to form a list of infidels, who can, 
without extreme disadvantage, be compared with the 
Bacons, Erasmus, Cumberland, Stillingfleet, Gro- 
titts, Locke, Butler, Newton, Boyle, Berkley, Milton. 
Johnson, kc. In no walks of genius, in no path of 
knowledge, can infidels support a claim to superi- 
ority, or equality with Christians."* 

Do you point to Paine, whose defence of Ameri- 
can principles we all admire, and before whose 
sceptical productions our whole land has trembled, 
and say here is intellect r I will point you back 
to the same example, and remind you, that when 
he wrote in the defence of our civil economy, in 



* Dr. DwicLt. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



199 



the pride of his life and the clearness of his reason, 
it was then he wrote and reasoned in defence of 
religion. And, it was not till debauchery had 
diseased his frame, and dissoluteness had deranged 
his mind, that he renounced the truth, and made a 
wreck of all his giant powers, in low and ignorant 
scurrility against God and his Son. 

And what is more modern infidelity ? It has not 
even the show of learning and intelligence, with 
which it once, in revolutionary phrenzy, traversed 
the continent of Europe, and made its assault, hea- 
ven be praised, unsuccessful assault, on the land of 
our fathers. If it comes in the gaudy trappings 
of Continental Europe, it appears in the shallowness 
and fickleness of its origin ; supported only by the 
miserably arranged defences of older times, not with 
one new (bought; not with one new mind of high- 
est order to enforce its claims. If we receive it 
from England, it comes in connexions too gross, too 
vulgar, too ignorant, to claim a moment's respect. 
And where, in all our land, has it a living advo- 
cate of intellectual eminence? If you claim for its 
honour, the support of that illustrious man who 
penned our declaration of independence, you will 
not forget, that here he argues without reason, and 
decides without evidence, and that in his own coun- 
try, and among his own friends, the other produce 
lions of his splendid and versatile mind, cannot be 
sustained under that heavy load, that moral incubus, 
which his low attack on Christianity has bound upon 
them. To say nothing of the moral character of 
infidelity, its ignorance is its disgrace, and should \}Q 
its ruin. 



200 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



2. Infidelity is disingenuous. It attributes to 
Christianity what in no sense belongs to her, and bor- 
rows its sole excellences from what she has achieved. 
It makes the religion of the gospel responsible for 
the evils it comes to cure, and demands credit for all 
the maxims of wisdom, and precepts of virtue, 
which it has stolen from the treasures of sacred 
truth. It seizes on the lamentable remains of its 
own principles, in the society of Christians, traces 
out their immoral and agitating influence, till they 
convulse the church and desolate the world, and 
then charge it upon the truth. Like the Roman 
Emperor, who fired the city, that he might accuse 
and destroy the Christians, it kindles to a flame the 
evil passions of men, till virtue withers and comfort 
dies, and then charges it upon piety. Thus cru- 
sades, intolerance, persecution, bigotry, and blood- 
shed, which have arisen from the clashing of infidel- 
ity with the pure elements of christian piety, have 
all been unfairly thrown upon the gospel : while 
every thing that infidelity embodies of wisdom and 
of knowledge respecting the human soul and futu- 
rity, of duty and social obligation, of virtue and 
political integrity, are surreptitiously taken from the 
gospel. And to free herself from the sense of obli- 
gation, and claim without fear of detection, the ex- 
clusive right to the stolen honours, with which she 
would adorn herself, she has attempted to destroy 
the Bible, that she might bury in oblivion all know- 
ledge of that fountain of truth and virtue. 

3. Infidelity is distinguished for scurrility, gross- 
ness, and vulgarity. Its leading characters have 
almost uniformly been low and grovelling ; though 



DUTIES OF TPIE YOUXG. 



201 



it may, sometimes, have numbered in its highest 
ranks, a few of refined intellect and chastened ima- 
gination, who have written in the style of decorum 
and manliness, yet these have been few. The great 
mass of her leaders and her disciples have been 
gross and vulgar. Their intercourse among each 
other, has nothing of noble, refined, and elevated 
carriage. If held for a season, by the circumstance 
of office or society, where are blended some lines of 
christian virtue, and obliged to assume the appear- 
ance of chasteness and honour, all has soon died 
away, when these restraints to their native character 
were removed. In their intercourse with the world, 
infidels are almost uniformly coarse and rude, 
often obtrusive and insolent. They seem utter 
strangers to the manliness of virtue, and the ac- 
knowledged civilities of common life ; and to have 
blunted their moral sensibilities not only, but to 
have lost susceptibility for the finer feelings of hu- 
man nature, and the endearing sympathies of so- 
cial life. There is no department of society but 
what fidelity invades with its rudeness. It spares not 
its own circle — not even its own fireside, but blinds 
the eye of domestic discernment, and blasts the heart of 
conjugal and parental love. As to the character of its 
scurrility and grossness in its public discussions, I 
need not remark. I have yet to be informed of a 
solitary work, whose pages are uniformly free from 
these features, and in which there breathes the spirit 
of honourable, dignified, and chaste discussion. 

4. Infidelity has uniformly been distinguish- 
ed for instability, it has had no fixed and perma- 
nent character. It presents no well ordered and 
received system. It lives in denying the truth 



202 DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 

of all other systems, rather than in adopting one ot 
its own. It spreads by warring against all truth, 
instead of establishing any. No two of its cham- 
pions or disciples are found to agree ; and no one 
remains permanent in his own faith or unbelief for 
a single day. What one advances, another denies. 
What is to-day maintained and defended, is to-mor- 
row denounced and recalled. Scepticism, infidelity, 
deism, and atheism tread rapidly upon each other, 
till there is nothing left in the universe, but cold and 
cheerless uncertainty, where the mind, in its everlast- 
ing restlessness, is thrown upon itself, ever chang- 
ing and never satisfied. Infidelity has not only 
been unstable in its own character, but it has ever 
been changing as to its ideas of truth and the modes 
of its attack. It at one time praises the precepts of 
the gospel, and again denounces the whole. At 
one time calls in the aids of its motives, and soon 
denies the reality of their existence. Now abjuring 
revelation and extolling natural religion; soon it de- 
nies all, both natural and revealed, and sinks back 
to its dark and changing uncertainty. "In embra- 
cing such a philosophy, what satisfaction can be 
found — what resting place for the mind ? To infi- 
del philosophers, it has plainly furnished none ; for 
they have retreated and wandered from one resi- 
dence to another, and have thus proved, that they have 
discovered no place where they could permanently 
and comfortably abide. You must feel even more un- 
settled. You feel that you are rational and immortal, 
and your interests are, therefore, immense and inesti- 
mable, and that an effectual provision for them de- 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



203 



mands and will repay every care and every exertion. 
To a mind, thus circumstanced, uncertainty is cor- 
roding and intolerable ; and from a system, thus 
fluctuating, nothing but uncertainty can be gained 
or hoped. Wretched must be the condition of that 
mind, which, labouring with intense anxiety, to dis- 
cover a peaceful rest for an unsatisfied conscience, 
and a final home at the close of a weary pilgrimage, 
finds within the horizon of its view nothing but a 
structure built of clouds, variable in its form, and 
shadowy in its substance, gay, indeed, with a thou- 
sand brilliant colours, and romantic with all the fan- 
tastical diversities of shape, but bleak, desolate, and 
incapable of being inhabited."* 

5. Infidelity is as inconsistent as it is unstable. 
It is inconsistent with itself. Having no fixed cha- 
racter, or permanent principles of action, it is ever 
engaged in demolishing with one hand what it has 
erected with the other. It at one and the same time 
praises Christianity for the purity of its precepts, 
and undermines the spirit of obedience, and even it 
has extolled these heavenly lessons, while it has burnt 
the volume that contained them, and sworn to exter- 
minate every vestige of its influence. It has allow- 
ed Jesus Christ to be the perfection of its moral ex- 
cellence, while it has denied the truth of the princi- 
ples upon which that excellence was formed, even 
denied that he ever existed at all. It has acknow- 
ledged his worth and glory, and soon in madness 
cried " crush the wretch /" It has paid the same 



* Dr. Dwigln. 



204 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



tribute of respect to the apostles of Christ — to the 
purity of their lives — the extent of their benevo- 
lence and labours, at the same time waged an exter- 
minating war against them and the cause they sus- 
tained. It has brought forward its system of na- 
tural religion, and by its boldest champions M de- 
clared it, in strong and solemn terms, a system of 
duties indispensible; that men are wholly account- 
able for the discharge of them, and that according 
to their fulfilment or neglect of them, they would be 
judged and rewarded; yet they have sapped the 
foundation of this whole system, by undermining mo- 
ral obligation and removing guilt from sin." # It has 
denied the existence of truth, yet asserted its value ; 
it has ridiculed providence, yet trembled before it ; 
it has rejected God and the Saviour, and in the hour 
of peril and the pains of the death, has owned the be- 
ing of the one, and implored the mercy of the other. 

6. Infidelity has uniformly been immoral, and de- 
basing, and cruel. This must ever be its influence, 
while human nature shall remain unchanged. It 
has thrown off all salutary restraints, and opposes 
no checks to the passions of men. It abandons the 
whole human family to the dominion of brutal in- 
cest and lust ; avowing, as the leading principle of 
its system, that all control of native passion, is unde- 
manded violence to our constitution, and a barrier 
to the highest good of society. It has boldly as- 
serted, that virtue lies in the indulgence of desire, 
and that true wisdom consists in seeking the gralifi- 



* Dr. Dwight 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



205 



cation of the passions. It has denied the existence 
of a future state of rewards and punishments, and 
left no sense of obligation ; and, in fact, denied that 
a sense of moral obligation could consist with virtue. 
Hume himself, declares, "that self-denial, self-mor- 
tification, and humility, are not virtues, but are use- 
less and mischievous ; and that adultery must be 
practiced, if we would obtain all the advantages of 
life." Another has said, " that all men and wo- 
men were unchaste, and that there is no such thing 
as conjugal fidelity;" and again it is said, "that 
man may get all things if he can." 

These are but a few of the thousand precepts of in- 
fidel philosophy. And what can be expected from a 
system like this ? Can safety, morality, and virtue live ? 
Have they ever lived in the society of infidels? Are 
virtue and morality its fruits ? As to private character, 
infidels are just what might be expected from their 
avowed principles. Lewdness has been their common 
sin. " The trreat infidel circle of France had not 
virtue enough to be married men ;" and, together, they 
sunk to the beastliness of Sodom. Infidelity is not 
satisfied with sundering all the bonds of public and 
private virtue, but it rudely assails the social state, 
even to its domestic retirement. It will not allow 
any thing safe and sacred even here. This must be 
invaded, " that the highest ends of life may be ob- 
tained ;" and our own land has been invaded and 
swept by this moral besom of destruction. Leveling 
the Sabbath, burning the Bible, denying eternity, 
blotting out the fear and the belief of God; infi- 
delity is prepared to walk through the land in blood, 
and waste all its fair fruits and tender plants, and in 
18 



206 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



the name of pride and lust to seat itself on the grave 
of all our hopes. Having sundered the bonds of 
moral obligation, it throws man, a monster and a 
vampire on his race; dissolves his arrangements 
of order, revolutionizes his government, and drives 
out upon the open fields, in promiscuous crowds, 
rational men, as herds of brutes, instinct only for 
the purpose of ravage and lust. " The family, the 
foundation of the political edifice, the methodiser of 
the world's business, and the mainspring of its in- 
dustry, infidels would demolish. — The family — the 
sanctuary of the pure and warm affections, where 
the helpless find protection, the wretched, sympathy, 
and the wayward undying affection, while paternal 
hearts live to love, and pray, and forgive, the}' would 
disband and desecrate. The family — that school of 
indelible impression, and of unextinguished affection; 
that verdant spot in life's dreary waste, about which 
memory lingers ; the centre of attraction, which 
holds back the heady and the high-minded, and 
whose cords bring out of the vortex the shipwrecked 
mariner, after the last strand of every other cable is 
parted, these political Vandals would dismantle. 
The fire on its altars they would put out ; the cold . 
hand of death they would place on the warm beat- 
ings of its heart, to substitute the vagrancy of desire, 
the rage of lust, and the solitude, and disease, and 
desolation, which follow the footsteps of unregulated 
nature, exhausted by excess."* Leaving desolate the 
hallowed retreat of domestic life, scepticism next in- 



* Dr. Beecher. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



207 



vades the right of private possession, and opens a sys- 
tem of indiscriminate plunder and bloodshed, till all 
the sinews of government are relaxed, and the last au- 
thority of law is torn away, and a nation lies welter- 
ing in its own blood, and seeks refuge in iron-hearted 
despotism. This is infidel morality, in its private, 
social, and civil relations.* 

7. Infidelity has uniformly been unsuccessful in 
its efforts, and false in its promises. It has arisen 
ardent, active, and boastful. Pledging to enthralled 
mankind, light, and liberty, and happiness. As- 
cribing the evils of the world to its systems of re- 
ligious faith, the uncertainty and fearfulness of the 
future, to the power of superstition, she has vowed 
to exterminate Christianity, and redeem the world. 
With these pledges, she has entered on her work, 
and what has she done? " Fired and maddened by 
the recital of what twelve men had accomplished, in 
overthrowing idolatry, and planting the christian 
religion, it has sworn to exterminate the name of 
Jesus, and to erase the last vestige of his truth." In- 
fidels have indeed gathered up and burnt the Bible; 
they have demolished the Sabbath, and silenced the 
worship of God. But is this success? Christianity 
still lives ; enlarges and beautifies its dominions. 
Though it has been proclaimed there is no God, and 



*" What is it to kill a man," said one of the atheistic philosophers, 
while the work of death was going on, " only just to change the direction 
of a few ounces of blood ?" and so in the progress of one revolution, was 
changed, in about 5,000,000 of instances, " the direction of a few ounces 
of blood." 



208 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



no religion ; no divinity in nature, and in provi- 
dence; yet nature rolls on, unfolding new evidence 
of her author, and strengthens belief in his provi- 
dence, and brings crowded accessions to his worship- 
pers. Though the immortality of the soul, and all 
moral obligation are rejected, the soul still clings to 
its hopes, and cannot, even in its guilt, throw off its 
fears, and the ties of mutual and social obligation, 
though rudely sundered, refuse to die. Civil go- 
vernments rise on the ruins of revolutionary phrenzy, 
in which law is enacted and honoured. The do- 
mestic economy lives in all its holy endearment; 
private right is held sacred still; conjugal fidelity, 
natural and chaste affection, are still found, and still 
spreading, and still loved. Infidelity is unsuccess- 
ful and false. She redeems not a solitary pledge. 
She leaves her victims shorn of their virtue, and aban- 
doned of their hopes ; and pours upon them, in the 
conflict of death, the horrors of darkness and despair. 
Here her boasting ends, her vain-glory dies, and the 
terrors, at which she laughed, rise in the strength 
and the vigour of immortality. 

8. Infidelity has always borne the character of arro- 
gance. No defeat, no disappointment, no disgrace 
have disrobed her of this character ; she is arrogant 
still. She has laid claim to all that is high-minded, 
spirited, magnanimous, and learned. She has 
claimed the authorship of the sole method of secu- 
ring human perfectibility. She has not only pro- 
nounced upon what she knows and has examined in 
her own sphere, but upon all that lies beyond it. — 
" To be able to say that there is a God, we have 
only to look abroad on some definite territory, 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



209 



and point to the vestiges that are given of His power 
and His presence somewhere. To be able to say, 
that there is no God, we must walk the whole ex- 
panse of infinity, and ascertain by observation that 
such vestiges are to be found nowhere. Grant 
that no trace of Him can be discerned in that quarter 
of contemplation, which our puny optics have 
explored — does it follow, that, throughout all im- 
mensity, a Being, with the essence and sovereignty 
of a God cannot be found ? Because through our 
loopholes of communication with that small portion of 
external nature which is before us, we have not seen 
or ascertained a God, must we therefore conclude 
of every unknown and untrodden vastness in this 
illimitable universe, that no Divinity is there ? Or 
because through the brief successions of our little 
day, these heavens have not once broke silence, is 
it therefore for us to speak to all the periods of that 
eternity which is behind us ; and to say, that never 
hath a God come forth with the unequivocal tokens 
of his existence ? Ere we can say that there is a 
God, we must have seen, on that portion of nature 
to which we have access, the print of his footsteps, 
or have had direct intimation from himself; or 
been satisfied by the authentic memorials of His 
converse with our species in other days. But ere 
we can say there is no God, we must have roamed 
over all nature and seen that no mark of a Divine 
footstep was there ; and we must have gotten inti- 
macy with every existent spirit in the universe, and 
learned from each, that never did a revelation of 
the Deity visit him ; and we must have searched not 
into the records of one solitary planet, but into the 
18* 



210 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



archives of all worlds, and thence gathered, that 
throughout the wide realms of immensity, not one 
exhibition of a reigning and living God ever has 
been made.''* 

Yet infidelity arrogantly pronounces, there is no 
God, and denies the force of every testimony, and 
presumes to decide not only for itself but for all. 
" The wonder turns on the great process by which 
a man could grow to that immense intelligence that 
can know that there is no God. What ages and 
what lights are requisite for this attainment ? This 
intelligence^involves the very attribute, of Divinity, 
while a God is denied. For unless this man is om- 
nipresent, unless he is at this moment in every 
place in the universe, he cannot know but there may 
be in some place manifestations of Deity, by 
which even he would be overpowered. "f 

9. Infidelity is at war with all the analogies of 
nature and providence. It has not only to meet the 
Bible, but the cloudless exhibition of truth, as 
drawn on the heavens and the earth. While in ig- 
norance of its doctrines and its precepts, it may 
close the pages of the gospel, or profanely commit 
it to the flames, it has not power to quench the 
glories of the skies — it has not strength to arrest the 
march of providence, or close the fountains of exube- 
rant goodness. So plainly is God exhibited in his 
works, in ways harmonious with his word, that 
were the one renounced, no excuse would be taken 
away for sin, while the other remained. 



* Chalmers. 



t Foster. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



211 



Infidelity may deny the existence of a God, and 
yet the mind is carried irresistibly through the 
wide creation, and along the line of providence, and 
every where reads the impressive lessons of one all 
pervading and all powerful Agent. It may deny 
the existence of sin, and yet the traces of apostasy 
are drawn upon every object, and the soul itself, in 
its deep consciousness, responds to the lessons of 
nature and providence. It may sport at the idea of 
suffering or of good, from the apostasy or virtue of 
others, and yet it lives on past parental suffering and 
kindness, or pines and dies beneath causes started 
in ages that are past. It may sport with the laws 
of retributive justice, and the demand of vicarious 
suffering, beyond what repentance and reformation 
can secure, and yet it meets at every step the fruit 
of its crime in the uniform reacting of nature's out- 
raged and offended laws, and pines and sinks and 
expires beneath the wounds that its own hand has 
inflicted, and which no tears of sorrow, no reform of 
life can heal. The laws of nature move on, and 
providence advances, rewarding the obedient, and 
leaving in wretchedness the offender, and points to 
the immutable truth of the Bible, that the wicked 
shall not go unpunished. Infidelity may trifle with 
the thought of a resurrection, and yet the alternations 
of the seasons roll round, and decayed nature puts 
on again her fresh beauties, and preaches the pos- 
sibility, if not the certainty of another life. The 
sceptic may ridicule the eternity of his own being, 
3'et nature, indestructible in every element, reads to 
his eye the lesson of immortality, and amid all his 
suicidal efforts to annihilate the consciousness of 



212 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



responsible and undying being, a living, reigning, 
and restless spirit speaks within, and loudly warns 
of judgment and of hell. 

10. Infidelity is also direct3y at war with the ful- 
filled prophecies of the Bible, and with the genuine 
and authentic history of the world. The leading 
facts of the Bible stand prominent in the his- 
tory of the earth, as clearly as her mountains, her 
rivers, and her seas. And the wonders of divine re- 
demption, in the life and labours, the sufferings and 
death of its Author, with the high and successful 
career of his apostles, are facts to which sacred and 
profane record have alike affixed their sanction. 
And in these facts, so attested, is found accomplished 
the prophecy of near six thousand years, while 
almost countless events are springing up just as 
predicted, to fortify the truth of God, and fix im- 
mutable the faith of man in prophecy yet unfolded. 

This is the character, and these are the difficulties of 
infidel philosophy. This is what scepticism presents, 
and this is the result in which the rejection of the 
gospel will involve you. And permit me to say, that 
in the unsanctified heart are found the elements of 
this gross and blasting system ; and in your young 
hearts they may be found, silently and forcibly work- 
ing their way, preparing ere long to develope a 
character that shall look fearlessly upon the Bible 
and upon God, trample upon the one, and challenge 
the vengeance of the other. 

We would, then, not only fortify your minds against 
scepticism, but we would also have your hearts im- 
bued with the spirit of truth and of Christ. For 
one moment, then, compare Christianity with the 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



213 



system which we have drawn. In itself it is the 
wisdom of God ; it comes to render us wise ; it bor- 
rows no aid from ignorance ; courts investigation ; 
shrinks not from the light of day ; numbers the wisest 
of earth in her train, and makes them wiser still in the 
wisdom she imparts. There is no unfairness, no- 
thing disingenuous in its character. It assumes 
nothing to which it is not entitled ; it charges upon 
sin nothing but its nature and its fruits, and asks for 
virtue nothing but its intrinsic excellence and its own 
reward. Christianity is pure, chaste, and refined. 
Never did it descend to scurrility and abuse, or be- 
tray the dignity of its holy origin. It meets its ene- 
mies in the mildness of mercy and the tenderness of 
love, and rather than revile and enkindle wrath, be- 
fore her strongest persecution she bows in the majesty 
of suffering, and conquers by yielding. You may 
draw from the Bible the finest lessons of genuine 
refinement of feeling and of manners, and there be- 
hold the fairest specimens of true dignity. Chris- 
tianity comes with a fixedness and permanence of 
character. Immutable in her laws, changeless in 
her precepts and her promises : perfect and entire, 
wanting nothing ; like her Author, the same 
yesterday, to-day, and forever. She proffers her 
benefits upon immutable conditions; pronounces on 
all offenders the same unerring judgments, and holds 
on her steady and uniform course of grace and 
righteousness. Christianity is consistent as it is im- 
mutable. In all its lengthened and blended history, 
the infinite variety of its parts, and the long succes- 
sion of ages and authors which have combined to 
mature and raise its imperishable structure, it is per- 



214 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



fectly harmonious, and presents a s} 7 mmetry and 
beauty, a unity of- design and effect, a reflection on 
the past, and a development of the future, which is 
not only incomparable but divine. It is alike dis- 
tinguished for its pure moralit}', its elevating influ- 
ence, and its unearthly kindness. It stands an eter- 
nal contrast to the immoral, debasing, and cruel spirit 
of scepticism. It takes man destroyed and in ruins, 
repairs and saves him. It rebinds sundered soci- 
ety in intellectual and moral harmony, while it ex- 
tends the hand of support and love to the suffering 
and afflicted. It bids the prostrate rise, the dead live, 
and restores men from gregarian pollution to the order, 
the intelligence, the purity, the dignity of the sons of 
God. It throws into the human constitution a forti- 
tude, into the human character a magnanimity, of 
which it would seem utterly unsusceptible, but from 
the divinity of its original creation. Look at its 
precursor, turning from the prospect of ease and the 
honours of life, to the eye of the world, bound in 
strange austerities, yet he rose in magnanimity and 
fortitude, the mild reprover of the ungodly, and laid 
his headless trunk in the dungeon, rather than pam- 
per the passions of a lascivious prince. 

Christianity gives those elements of character — 
that greatness of mind, which aims at high attain- 
ments, and shrinks not from difficulties ; which 
denies no sacrifices, and which presses forward and 
aspires to fellowship with minds kindred to its own. 
Look at Paul with Gamaliel, and at Paul with 
Jesus Christ. A pharisee in the synagogue, or a 
citizen of Rome, was enough for the one, but the 
world itself could not limit the expanding mind, and 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



215 



satisfy the glowing heart of the other. "His citi- 
zenship was in heaven." " He was of the household 
of God." u The Christian selects his companions 
and friends from the intellectual and moral nobility 
of the universe — studies David, Daniel, Isaiah, John, 
and Jesus Christ. The moment religion enters 
the soul of man, no matter how degraded formerly, 
he becomes immediately possessed of an affinity for 
the master-spirits of the world, and he, who could 
once delight himself and be at home with the most 
debased of his species, rises to sit with patriarchs, 
prophets, and apostles, and communes with them as 
his elect and familiar friends. Nay, not contented 
yet, he pants after Deity itself, and rests not till, like 
Enoch, he walks with God, and has his fellowship 
with the infinite and glorious Father of spirits." 
This is the preparation which Christianity gives man 
to re-enter the walks of social life, to rebuild the de- 
solations of his state, and to repeople the world with 
the sons and daughters of the Lord. 

And while Christianity has imparted this elevation 
and charity, it has been uniformly successful and 
true to all her promises. In the face of the world she 
has steadily advanced ; taken possession after pos- 
session, rolled back as with the hand of omnipo- 
tence the waves of darkness. 

And where has she ever failed, in one solitary 
promise, to the weak, the trembling, and the 
dying believer ? She has arrogated to herself no- 
thing which she had not a right to claim, and boast- 
ed of no excellence with which she was not adorned, 
no wisdom which she did not possess and was not 



216 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



able to impart. Christianity is harmonious with 
nature and with providence ; borrows proof of her 
divinity from her alliance to the Author of the world, 
and the harmony of her advancement with the deve- 
lopments of his will. The prophecies of God are 
fulfilled in her, and the predicted consummation of 
all events is the crowning glory of the kingdom of 
Jesus Christ. 

Turning from cold and cheerless infidelity, from 
the fearful apathy and unbelief of your own heart, 
we point you, we urge you, to atrial of Christianity, 
not in the speculations of intellect, but the vitality 
of true godliness. You have a character to form 
with which to live : there is an hour when you must 
die, and an eternity of retribution. 

Where can you find models of character better than 
Christianit}' affords; scenes of death more painful and 
sublime, or hopes of immortality, richer than the gospel 
brings? Will you turn to sceptical philosophy? 
" To philosophy, the invisible world is an unknown 
vast, over which, like the raven from the ark, she 
wanders with a wearied wing, seeking rest and 
finding none. To her exploring eye, the uni- 
verse is one immense, unfathomable ocean. Above, 
around, beneath, all is doubt, anxiety, and despair. 
Religion, on the contrary, changes the thorny couch 
into a bed of down ; closes with a touch the wounds 
of the soul, and converts a wilderness of wo into the 
borders of paradise. This 
same sweetener of civil life will accompany you to 
the end, and seating herself by your dying bed, will 
draw aside -the curtains of eternity — will bid you 
lift your closing eyes on the end of sorrow, pain, 



DUTIES OP THE YOUNG. 



217 



and care ; and in the opening gates of peace and 
glory will point to you, in full view, the friends of 
Christ waiting to hail your arrival."* 



* Dr. Dwight. 



19 



213 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



CHAPTER XV, 

Duties which the young owe to their Creator, contained in the DecaIogue= 
— The first four Commandments pre-eminently important — 
1. From their specific OBJECT. — 2. The estimation in which they are 
held by the Jews, and the providences of God towards that people, in 
relation to these commandments. 

Our duties well understood and performed to- 
wards our God, are the perfection and glory of 
human character. These embrace all others. A 
heart in love with Him, is in love with virtue, with 
wisdom, and with man ; at peace, full of hope, and 
immortality. 

This is the third and highest subject which it 
was proposed to consider. These duties, in their 
full extent, constitute true religion, and respect alike 
the secret principles of the "heart and the whole circle 
of external conduct. They have their origin in love 
to God. This is the fulfilling of the law, and covers 
the wide ground of obligation. 

Leaving the more ordinary method of considering 
those subjects, which embrace the life of youthful 
piety, I will ask you to recur to those leading prin- 
ciples of moral obligation, where are unfolded with 
clearness and solemnity, your duties to your Creator 
and Judge. The scene is one of early and sublime 
disclosure. It was the giving of the law on Mount 
Sinai. Israel lay encamped beneath it. "Moses 
ascended alone, amid thunderings and lightnings ; 
and a thick cloud was upon the mount, and the 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



219 



voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, and all the 
people trembled. And Mount Sinai was altogether 
on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in 
fire ; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke 
of a furnace, and the whole people quaked greatly. 
And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long 
and waxed louder, Moses spake, and God answered 
by a voice." Such was the scene in which the moral 
law was given. It was then written by the hand of 
God upon two tables of stone. Hence may have 
arisen the distinction between the first and second 
tables of the law, as the revelation of God's will and 
our duties towards him, and towards our fellow-men. 

This law we have too long passed in its general 
terms, or as the dead record of worn out and forgot- 
ten statutes of remote and unenlightened ages, 
rather than as the living law of the living God. Who 
would now judge, from the feelings and the habits 
of the world, that this law, these ten commandments, 
were the same which came from amid the thunder- 
ings and the lightnings of Sinai ; which Israel so 
long bore around their camp, when a sanctuary, 
and before their tribes when they marched forth to 
conflict, and before which trembled their strongest 
enemies ? AVho would dream that it was the same 
law, which rested sacred in the ark, where spread 
the wings of the cherubim, and the glory of the 
Lord enkindled ? Above all, who would dream 
that it was the law of nature and of God, now and 
forever binding upon all men, which was ratified in 
the blood of the Cross, and which shall yet blaze 
forth in the symbols of the judgment, and the 
imagery of hell, upon all the enemies of godliness f 



220 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



Yet these ten commandments are the same which 
God gave to man — which Israel revered— which 
Christ magnified in death — which the gospel now 
enforces — which the judgment shall vindicate, and 
eternity, with its sanction, shall sustain. 

Is it not time that these laws were redeemed from 
forgetfulness and perversion, and made, as formerly, 
the rule of human duty, and the arbiter of human 
destiny? Is it not time that they assume that place 
in the kingdom of God, which they originally held, 
and which they must hold, when God shall judge 
the world in righteousness ? 

And that we may not, for a moment, blend these 
ten commandments, or any one of them, with the 
abrogated ceremonies of the Jewish economy, re- 
member, that the whole transaction of the giving of 
the moral law, stands sublimely alone, with a mag- 
nificence of grandeur and sublimity, which has 
marked no event on earth, save the crucifixion of 
Christ, and which shall be surpassed by no event 
yet to come, save the final judgment, when this same 
law, in holy union with the gospel, shall break forth 
again in all the terror of its sanctions. 

My object, at this time is, to consider that portion 
of the law which is contained in the first four com- 
mandments, as presenting and enforcing the duties 
which we owe to our Creator. 

The remainder are more fresh in our remem- 
brance, and regarded as more immediately binding, 
because human legislation has adopted them, as the 
principles of its jurisprudence; while the others 
have been cast aside, and left to urge their unac- 
knowledged claims ; to assert their divine authority, 



DUTIES OP THE YOUNCr. 



221 



and redeem themselves from the rubbish of Jewish 
antiquities, and abrogated ceremonies. The prin- 
ciples of private interest and self-defence, have 
guarded the last six commandments, so that, around 
three of them, at least, which most intimately re- 
spect our personal interest, are thrown all the se- 
curities that penal sanctions can create. At the 
same time, the principles of depraved nature, which 
the Scriptures characterize as enmity against God, 
are continually casting off all reverence for the first 
four commandments, till there is scarce a statute in 
all our criminal code, to guard their sacreduess, or 
even to recognise their authority. 

While human legislation has reared her barriers 
around murder, theft, and perjury, every other 
violation of the decalogue has been reduced to a 
trifling misdemeanour, or left to receive its sentence 
from the uncertainties of common law. This is 
strictly true, in our community, as to the first four 
commandments. From the very principles of our 
depraved nature, which loves to cast aside whatever 
brings God distinctly to view, and urges obedience 
to his will, and also from our earliest impression, 
drawn from human laws, which have so materially 
varied from the original features of the decalogue, 
our ideas of obligation to God have become sadly 
deranged, and almost effaced. It is equally our duty 
and our safety, to return to the statutes of God, and 
learn those duties to Him, which must ever hold the 
highest place in the record of our obligation. 

The first four commandments pre-emi- 
nently IMPORTANT. 

19* 



222 



DUTIES OF THE YOVttG. 



The truth of this proposition will appear, FIRST: 
From their immediate and specific Object. 

The great and eternal God, is the first and Su- 
preme, if I may not add, the sole, immediate, and 
specific object of each of these four commandments. 
They are engraven before us, to reveal more clearly 
the divine perfections, and to secure the increasing 
and permanent glory of Jehovah. They stand to 
guard the sacred name and character of the great 
God and Maker of the universe : to keep inviolate 
the purity, and dignity, and sovereignty of his do- 
minion. Casting aside every other object that may 
rise to claim homage, they come to secure the reve- 
rence and homage, which, as accountable beings, we 
owe to the supreme God. Thus, united in their 
object, and reciprocal in their influence, they are to 
preserve, undivided, that broad and beautiful cur- 
rent of love, and gratitude, and praise, which should 
flow home to God, as the exhaustless and ever-swell- 
ing revenue of His glory. They hold up the great 
Jehovah, and Him only, to be adored and worship- 
ped. They prescribe the manner and determine the 
time of doing it. Thus, laying aside every thing 
which may prevent the conviction of the dut}', and 
its proper and reasonable performance. 

In each of these four commandments, you find 
God the first, grand, and specific object. It is not 
so with the remainder of the decalogue. Of the 
last six commandments, immeasurably important as 
they are, man is the immediate and specific object of 
each one of them. In obeying these, we promote 
the glory of God, and prepare for the rewards of 
heaven. 



DUTIES OP THE YOUNG. 



223 



And what comparison is there between the infinite 
and eternal God ; the immediate and specific object 
of the first, and frail, and finite man; the immediate 
and specific object of the second table of the law? 

I would illustrate this argument, by the ordinary 
usage of society. We estimate the guilt of trans- 
gression, by its relative circumstances. The dis- 
turbances among children and servants, pass unno- 
ticed. An insurrection in some distant and obscure 
province, dies away, or is subdued by the humble 
authority that may preside there. But trace the 
violation of law through the ascending orders of so- 
ciety, until you reach the city, the palace, the throne, 
and the offence gathers magnitude at every step, till 
one single blow here, is more than an open insur- 
rection in the obscure and distant province. 

Take another illustration. The character of 
crime is estimated by the object, or the individual 
against whom it is committed. Is he obscure, it is 
soon forgotten. Let the object of disrespect or of 
crime, be some inferior magistrate, and the penalty 
is measured accordingly. But pass the ascending 
series of honour, and come to the bench of supreme 
judicature, or to the throne and the king, and that 
which a moment before passed unnoticed, becomes 
rebellion and treason. Death follows, where a 
frown was not incurred before. 

And what, I ask, would be the result of an utter 
disregard of all that is demanded and due to sove- 
reignty ? What, if the appointed seasons of its ho- 
nour were disregarded ? What, if instead of the uni- 
versal respect due to a rightful sovereign, a thousand 
others should be called in to share the divided ho- 



224 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



mage ? What if the rightful king should be cast 
down, his throne demolished, and his empire invaded ? 
Are there any crimes and offences of one subject 
against another, however numerous, which could com- 
pare with this ? This is not only treason against the 
head and the heart of the nation ; but every member, 
however distant, feels the tremendous shock. Over 
what has the hand of justice drawn such an avenging 
sword ? From what other source do such wide and 
fatal consequences flow? Again, I ask, what other 
crimes, multiplied throughout the kingdom, and 
forbidden by penal statutes, could compare with 
this ? 

Make this insulted and dethroned Sovereign, God 
Almighty, and you see at once the aggravated 
guilt of violating either of these commands which 
have Him for their immediate object. 

As far as the infinite Jehovah transcends in digni- 
ty and glory frail and finite men, and as far as his 
sovereignty transcends in sacredness and importance 
the low and limited sovereignties of earth, so pre- 
eminently sacred and important are the first four 
commandments. 

What is the unavoidable conclusion ? Is it not, 
that man, who refuses supreme love to God and his 
appointed worship, profanes His holy NAME, or 
violates His Sabbath, is stamped in the eyes of hea- 
ven with consummate guilt ? Tell me, with your 
eye fixed on God, your holy and eternal Sovereign, 
what do the last six commandments forbid, 
human laws condemn, prisons punish, or scaffolds 
avenge, that can compare with guilt like this ? 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



225 



Secondly : In support of the pre-eminent sacred- 
ness and importance of the first commandments, con- 
sider the reverence in which they were held by the 
Jews, in their best and purest days, and the dispen- 
sations of God towards that people, in relation to 
these very commandments. 

The whole law was held sacred by the Hebrew 
race, as the charter of their rights and privileges, 
and as the pledge of Divine protection. But there 
is something, at the same time, peculiarly solemn 
and affecting thrown around the first four command- 
ments. The first table of the law seems to conse- 
crate the ark, and to enkindle upon it the glory of 
God. 

When the law was given, the Lord said unto 
Mosrfs, on the mount, " Go down, charge this people, 
lest they burst through unto the Lord to gaze, and 
many of them perish." This declaration, as well as 
others, united with numerous dispensations, which 
brought God distinctly to view, impressed on the 
people of Israel the most affecting reverence for the 
Divine Existence. 

Such grandeur and glory surrounded Him, that it 
became their settled belief, that no man could behold 
Him and live. Moses even, who had for forty days 
dwelt in the presence of Jehovah, must be sheltered 
in the cleft of the rock, and covered by the hand of 
the Almighty, when He was to appear in the more 
sublime exhibitions of his majesty. Hence, also, 
Manoah cried, as the angel of the Lord appeared 
unto him, u We shall surely die, because we have 
seen God." And Isaiah, " Wo is me; I am undone, 



220 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." 
God was in their view connected with every event. 
His agency was acknowledged in every dispensa- 
tion. His theocracy was as pervading as the atmos- 
phere and the light. He was their King and their 
Father : they heard his voice in the storm, and they 
saw his love in the rain and the dew. The clouds 
were his chariot, and he rode on the wings of the 
wind. Such was their reverence and regard for the 
existence of that God, who is the specific object of 
the first commandment. 

No less was that reverence, which was cherished 
for the worship of God, the specific object of the 
second commandment. I need not detail before 
you the service of the tabernacle in the wilderness, 
or of the temple in Zion. 

But what were the feelings of Moses, as he came, 
all happy from God, bearing in his arms the tables 
of the law, when he heard the music and the noise 
of dancing around the idol of Aaron. 

Indignant and overwhelmed, he dashed to the 
ground the tables of God's law, and rebuked the 
camp of Israel, and, standing in the gate, he cried, 
"Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto 
me. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel ; put every 
man his sword by his side ; go in and out from gate 
to gale, throughout the camp; slay every man his 
brother, and every man his companion, and every 
man his neighbour; and there fell of the people of 
Israel, that day, about three thousand souls. Mo- 
ses returned to God, to make atonement for the sins 
of the living, and thus saith the Lord ; Whosoever 
hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



227 



book." What must be the sin of deranging or 
withholding the worship of God ? 

Spirituality of worship was also demanded. " The 
sons of Aaron, look either of them his censer, and 
put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered 
strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded 
them not ; and there went out fire from the Lord, 
and devoured them, and they died before the Lord." 

Immediate death was the consequence of a want 
of reverence for the true worship of God. Hence, 
not only the tabernacle, and the ark, the priestly of- 
fice, and the altar, but the temple and the city ; yea, 
all the hills of Zion, where his fathers worshipped, 
are, even to the present hour, sacred in the eyes of 
a Jew. And the Lord has declared to Israel, and 
to all men in view of his worship, "I am a jealous 
God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the 
children, to the third and fourth generation of them 
that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of 
them that love me, and keep my commandments." 

As the third of these commandments, that Being 
who was so jealous of his worship, adds, Thou shalt 
not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. 
And such was the respect and reverence cherished 
by the Jews for the name of the Lord, which this 
command was given to guard, that those titles which 
belong exclusively to God, were never taken upon 
their lips ; and so deep was this reverence, that it 
became their abiding belief, that it would be, not 
only profaneness, but death to do it. And this was 
an impression so abiding, and considered so just, 
that the authors of the Greek version of the ancient 
Scriptures, in order that they might not profane the 



223 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



name of the Lord, or use it with apparent familiar- 
ity, were cautious not to admit the exclusive titles of 
God to its pages. And, in the Bible of our lan- 
guage, the sacred names, Jah and Jehovah, are sel- 
dom introduced. 

Whatever may have been the character of this re- 
verence, it was not unwarranted by the dispensations 
of God. There was one in the societ}^ of Israel, 
who blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed. 
" And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, bring 
forth him that hath cursed without the camp, and 
let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, 
and let all the congregation stone him. Whosoever 
curseth his God shall bear his sins ; and he that 
blasphemeth the name of the Lord shall surely be 
put to death." 

It remains that I speak of the fourth command- 
ment, the last article in the first table of the law. 

This was pre-eminently sacred, as Jehovah had 
hallowed the Sabbath by his own rest. This was the 
first religious institution that God gave to man. It 
was given to preserve His name, His worship, and 
His being; clothed, I had almost said, with sacred- 
ness and importance equal to them all. As this was 
the first institution of religion enjoined upon man, 
and observed by the Jews before the other command- 
ments were given, it rose prominent among them, 
and stands as the guardian of all the others. An 
appointed time for worship is the only security for 
its existence. The Sabbath forgotten, the sacred 
name, and, indeed, the very being of God will soon 
be forgotten and unknown. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



229 



This institution, rising from the very necessities 
of our being, God has doubly fortified. Reverence 
for this command, is one of the last religious emo- 
tions that dies from the heart of the degenerate Jew, 
and it is among the first that kindles up in the soul 
of the renewed. " The Lord said, Ye shall keep 
the Sabbath day, for it is holy unto you. Every 
one that defileth it, shall surely be put to death ; 
whosoever doeth any work therein, shall be cut off 
from among his people. Whosoever doeth any 
work in the Sabbath, shall surely be put to death" 
This was no vain decision of the Almighty. Mark 
fiis dispensations. A man was found, that " gather- 
ed sticks on the Sabbath, and they brought him to 
Aaron and Moses, and unto all the congregation. 
And the Lord said, the man shall surely be put to 
death, and all the congregation shall stone him. 
And all the congregation brought him without the 
camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died as 
the Lord commanded." What reverence must this 
have given to all Israel for that day ? Nehemiah felt 
It, as he rebuilt Jerusalem — David felt it, as he 
strung his sacred lyre — Isaiah, enraptured by pro- 
phetic vision, felt it, and the beloved disciple felt it, 
as he adored the Lord of the Sabbath in the island 
of his solitude. 

Here you have the reverence in which holy men 
of old held these four commandments, and the 
solemn and public dispensation of God, which so 
fully sanctioned that reverence. And, I would ask, 
are not these commands as sacred now as they were 
then ? Are they not as important and as binding? 
20 



230 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG* 



Will not the dispensations of God, sooner or later? 
clothe them with sanctions equally overwhelming to 
the transgressor? What, though man now drops not 
a tear, and feels no danger, where Israel would have 
trembled and expired ? Hath not the law " dominion 
over a man as long as he liveth ?" 

I would press the subject upon your considera- 
tion, and, if possible, revive the authority of these 
four commandments. They are as sacred, and as 
binding upon you, as on Israel of old. These laws 
still live, unburied by the rubbish of abrogated cere- 
monies, and unobscured by the lapse of ages. 
Your distance from the Jew, does not release you 
from your obligations to the God of Israel ; nor 
with less guilt and danger, can you have other god? 
before him. Is not the first table of the law bind- 
ing upon you in all its force ? To whom has God 
been more clearly revealed ? And has he not been 
swelling around you the tide of his blessings, ever 
since the solemnities of Sinai ? Instead of the an- 
gel of the covenant, you have Jesus the Messiah, 
Instead of the pillar of fire and of cloud, you have 
the Holy Spirit to guide and defend. Instead of 
Canaan, with its richness and rest to invite you on- 
ward, you have heaven with its holiness, and happi- 
ness. Yet, where are those thanksgivings to God, 
which so often made the wilderness rejoice ? Where 
is that deep reverence for Jehovah, which one 
thought of his existence gave to every Hebrew ? 
The ten thousand subjects of his increasing agency 
are sundered from his hand, and we have left to 
fortune, and the course of nature, those moving 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



231 



providences which once bound the heart to the Effi- 
cient Cause of all things. 

Because God has changed his economy, has he 
therefore changed his nature and his claims ? Has 
he laid aside his demand for reverence and love ? Is 
practical atheism a sin that heaven now forgets? Is 
this wide spread neglect of God, deep cherished in- 
fidelity of soul, accumulating no guilt, no judgment, 
and fiery indignation ? Has Jehovah so denied the 
evidence of his existence, or so unclothed his sa- 
cred being, that we may sport with Jewish reve- 
rence, banish the memorials of a present and pre- 
siding Deity, and give loose to the pride and pas- 
sions of the soul ? 

Retributions do not, indeed, immediately fol- 
low on the footsteps of sin, as in ancient days. 
The earth may not open to receive you ; fire 
from heaven may not lay your dwellings in ashes ; 
the flood may not roll its unfathomed waters ; 
yet, be assured, there is a retribution to come. 
The law against the wide spread atheism and idola- 
try of the present hour, stands unchanged ; and to 
it, there is bound the penalty of death. Men may 
long deny the God of Israel, and have a thousand 
other gods before Him. In modern infidelity and 
boasted refinement, they may smile at the reverence 
of the Hebrew, as the heavens shook at the voice of 
Jehovah, and the sea roared at the driving of his 
tempests. Yet well may despisers of God and his 
providence, fear. He will yet look out from his 
pillar of glory, and trouble their hosts. The God 
of Israel is still their king and judge : in his hand 
is the cup of trembling, and they shall drink it to 
the very dregs. 



232 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



Where Israel revered and worshipped the Lord, 
do you not despise his law ? Israel had their 
idols. Do you acknowledge the existence of God. 
and his claims to devotion ? Where, let me ask, is 
your altar, and what is the incense of your praise i 
Do you not disown God, by withholding that wor- 
ship which he claims ? Have you, then, no idols ? 
Refuse to acknowledge God in holy worship, then 
read your doom in the slaughter of Israel. Do you 
bring the externals of devotion ? Let the dead sons 
of Aaron teach you. Withhold the heart from God, 
and refuse his service, and must you not reap, be- 
yond the grave, the wages of death I 

And is not the name of the Lord as sacred, as 
when he first spoke to Israel ? Has the continual 
brightening of his glory for four thousand years, 
granted indulgence to profaneness ? Yet it rolls from 
the lips of the swearer ; society often smiles and 
gives it currency. Who now fears to take upon his 
lips the name of God ? But is he held guiltless, that 
taketh his name in vain ? Be it ever known, that his 
NAME is still sacred in the eyes of heaven, and when 
it falls from your lips profaned, guilt is written on 
the heart, and the sentence of God's law is recorded 
above. 

If the name and the worship of the living 
Jehovah, whom Israel adored, are still so sacred, and 
to be had in reverence, is that consecrated day to be 
forgotten which brings that God to view, appoints 
his worship, and draws increasing sacredness around 
his name ? Who has an exemption from the law of 
the Sabbath ? Is physical and moral nature so 
changed, that the Sabbath is not demanded ? Has 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



233 



not the Lord said, " I gave them my Sabbath to be 
a sign between me and them, that they might know 
that I am the Lord that sanctify them ?" Is no 
day of rest and worship now required for God's 
honour and our salvation ? Is piety so deeply root- 
ed in the soul, that no hallowed hours and sacred 
worship are necessary to preserve it ? Has God 
blotted out that day ? Does he require no special 
service from his creatures ? Can you labour now 
with innocence, and trample on the hours of this 
sacred day, and profane the most holy institutions of 
Jehovah, where one act cost the Jew his life ? Tell 
me of one act of God, of one reason, drawn from 
his fuller dispensations, from the character of physi- 
cal and moral being, or from any source, that takes 
from this day its sacredness and binding obligation. 
Are we not bound to rest, and worship God ; to do it 
when he commands? Has he ever removed the 
penalty from the law of the Sabbath ? 

Tell me one reason why God gave and renewed 
this law to Israel, and that reason shall bind it still 
more solemnly on you. Did the physical and 
moral necessities of Israel demand a Sabbath? These 
necessities have been increasing ever since the law 
was given. Did spiritual, national, and individual 
blessings flow to them from the Sabbath ? Here 
you gather your richest hopes. Did the Sabbath 
point them back to creation and the rest of God, 
and foward to the peace of Canaan ? It points you 
to the wonders of redeeming love, and the rest of 
heaven. Was it death, by God's enactment, to 
break the Sabbath by a single act ? Look at the 

20* 



234 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



blessings the Sabbath brings, with all the glories it 
unfolds, and what must be the judgments accumu- 
lating in eternity, for them that fearlessly trample on 
the Sabbath now ? O, could that d}ing victim 
speak from the congregation of Israel, would he not 
send a warning of unearthly power to these con- 
temners of Jehovah's Law ? 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



235 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The pre-eminent importance of the first four commandments, continued. — 
3. They are the foundation and support of all the others. — The securi- 
ty of moral principle. — Their violation is the destruction of this princi- 
ple. — The character of society where these are unknown or disregarded. 
— 4. The permanent existence of the specific objects of these command- 
ments. 

In considering the pre-eminent importance of 
the first four commandments, I have remarked upon 
their immediate and specific Object, the supreme 
Jehovah : that they present his sacred being, pre- 
serve his honour, and secure his worship. I have al- 
luded to the deep reverence of the ancient people of 
God, for these laws, with his affecting dispensations 
towards Israel, to preserve them inviolate ; showing, 
that every reason for their original appointment now 
exists, with undiminished force. 

1 would proceed further to establish and illustrate 
the proposition laid down in the commencement of 
this discussion. 

Thirdly. The first four commandments are the 
foundation and support of all the others. There is 
no security for the observance of the last six com- 
mandments, without the first four. There would 
be no effectual sanctions, no penalties to any 
law. The relative obligations of society will 
never be felt, nor the duties of social life be dis- 
charged, if the obligations which we owe to God are 
not acknowledged, and the duties rising from them 
performed. There can exist nothing like correct 



236 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



morals. Lay aside the relations and duties included 
in the first table of the law, and there remains no 
authority to sanction and sustain the second. All 
motives to obey these laws, would rise from consi- 
derations of expediency, from personal profit and 
convenience. The scene of their operation and 
influence lies on earth, and this world only must 
furnish the security that they shall be obeyed. And 
who does not know that those passions, which urge 
or refuse obedience, lie wholly beyond the reach of 
human legislation ? Occasional checks may be 
given to open and flagrant violation of these divine 
laws ; but those powerful principles, the conflicting 
and restless passions of nature, which are ever urging 
to their violation, no human sanction can reach, no 
human power can bind. 

It may be settled as an unquestionable principle, 
that there is nothing, independent of the relation in 
which man stands to his God, with those obligations 
and responsibilities which rise from that relation, 
which can afford the least security for the lives, 
liberties, and possessions of men. The history of 
mankind abundantly establishes the supreme import- 
ance of the first four commandments ; without these, 
the obligations to obey the others have never been 
fully felt, nor their duties discharged. 

When the true worship of God was abandoned, 
his name profaned, and his Sabbaths violated, the 
relative duties and sympathies of social life were 
swept away, even before the race of men had multi- 
plied sufficiently to lose the affecting claims of 
kindred and consanguinity ; and so lost were man- 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



237 



kind, not only to God and his worship, but to every 
sense of social duty and relationship, that nothing 
but an universal deluge could arrest the march of 
human wickedness. 

In subsequent ages, the special instructions of the 
first four commandments, as far as the revealed and 
written knowledge of them was concerned, were 
confined to the Jewish nation. And what was the 
character and condition of the whole world beside ? 
Was there any regard to the lives, liberties, and 
possessions of men ? Were truth and pureness of 
living to be found ? Was there any more appear- 
ance of virtue, of mutual and acknowledged obliga- 
tion, of peace and harmony, than amidst the herds 
of the brute creation ? 

The Jews, whenever they forgot God, suspended 
or deranged his worship, and neglected his Sabbaths, 
that moment lost all sense of obligation and desire 
to obey the last six commandments, and disorder 
and death broke into the ranks of Israel. Thefts, 
murders, adulteries, abuse of parents, perjury, and 
covetousness, raged uncontrolled. Why was all 
this . ? Because superior obligation to the first four 
commandments was not felt, and inferior obligation 
of course could not be. The sanctions and supports 
of true morality were lost, and the corrupted pas- 
sions of nature broke loose and ranged unrestrained. 

As you trace the history of this interesting people, 
at every step of their progress, you will find their 
private obligations and social duties cast aside and 
forgotten, just in proportion as they departed from 
the sincere acknowledgment and worship of God, 
reverence for his name, and his Sabbaths. 



238 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



The pagan nations almost universally show an 
entire disregard of the social duties, and are lost to 
all the valuable possessions and hopes of life. You 
can nowhere find among them, obedience to the 
last six commandments. Instead of honour paid to 
father and mother, you meet instructions to destroy 
them, when selfishness suggests advantage. False- 
hood and perjury are taught as a system ; and, 
together with thefts, recommended as virtues. Mur- 
der is legalized, and, indeed, made an important 
portion of religious service ; and debasement, and 
the grossest impurity, have not only been sanctioned 
to satiate human passions, but as an act of homage 
to the gods that were worshipped. 

What will human nature not become, when loosed 
from the knowledge and obedience of the first 
statutes of Jehovah's law f All this degeneracy 
and debasement springs from mistaken views of God, 
and the acceptable methods of his worship; that is, 
from want of knowledge and regard of the first table 
of the law. In this state, professing themselves wise, 
as all men do who rise in what they call dignity and 
independence, above the duties of the first four 
commandments, they become fools ; and, in the 
language of Inspiration, changed the glory of the 
incorruptible God into an image made like to cor- 
ruptible man, and to birds, and four footed beasts, 
and creeping things. " Wherefore, God gave them 
up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own 
hearts ; to vile affections, being filled with all 
unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetous- 
ness, maliciousness ; full of envy, murder, debate, 
deceit^ malignity, backbiters, haters of God ? despite- 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



239 



ful, proud, disobedient to parents, without natural 
affection, implacable, unmerciful." 

You have not only the history of man, but the 
testimony of Inspiration, that where God, his worship, 
and his Sabbaths, are cast aside, there remains no 
possible security to any other of the commandments, 
All are swept away in one deep, rapid, and resist- 
less tide of licentiousness. Reason, revelation, and 
experience, combine to assure you, that all this arises 
from ignorance of God's character, and neglect of 
his worship. Knowledge of the divine character and 
wwsbip rest wholly on the combined influence of the 
first four commandments. Knowledge of the exist- 
ence and character of God lost, his worship and Sab- 
baths of course will die. So, let his name be profaned, 
bis worship abandoned, and his Sabbaths violated, 
and from the very laws of our nature, we know, that 
speedily the. character not only, but the very exist- 
ence of God, will pass wholly from the mind. The 
history of forty centuries practically demonstrates 
this truth, and presents, with new and affecting 
force, the declaration of the Lord : " I gave them 
my statutes, and showed them my judgments, which 
if a man do, he shall live in them. Moreover, I 
gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me 
and them, that they might know that I am the Lord 
that sanctify them." 

To fortify this argument, and render more clear 
the conclusion to which it leads, let us inquire 
why the state of morals is so loose and wretched in 
the church of Rome, and throughout the papal 
dominions ? Unquestionably, because the injunctions 
of some, if not of all the first four commandments, 
have been violated and cast aside. The pontiff has 



240 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



assumed the place of the Almighty. Imagery is 
substituted for the spiritual presence of Christ, and 
formality for holy worship. The Sabbath has lost 
its sacredness, in the multitude of festivals that have 
crowded the calendar. In saints' worship, and con- 
secrated days, reverence for the Saviour and the 
Sabbath, has died away. Now, and for centuries, 
both popular and priestly licentiousness, corruption 
of morals, and debasement of mind, are swelling the 
miseries of that devoted people. 

We might enter other countries and communities, 
and show you that morality or obedience to the last 
six commandments is miserable indeed, where God 
is not practically acknowledged and worshipped, in 
the waj's of his appointment ; where his name is not 
revered, and his Sabbaths hallowed by sacred rest. 
Look around you, and what is the moral character 
of those among whom no sanctuaries are found, and 
no Sabbath assemblies ; where, fearless of judgment, 
men unrestrained trample upon these first four laws 
of God? 

I might come still nearer home, and ask, who is, 
in reality, the trusty and virtuous man ? Is it he 
who violates the first four commandments ? I will 
not press this inquiry. But do you not require 
signatures, and seals, and securities, and carry a 
distrust of- the private virtues of men just in pro- 
portion as they live remote from the first four com- 
mandments ? 

That man who acknowledges and worships God, 
who is not profane, and who hallows the Sabbath, 
will invariably be correct in all his deportment. He 
is obedient to the whole law of God. But for his 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



241 



obedience to the last six commandments simply, you 
bestow no unusual degree of credit ; you would 
regard him as a monster if he refused it. Neither 
is there any pledge in that obedience, that he will 
rise still higher, and obey the first table of the law*. 
He can rise no higher in moral character than the 
level of his principles. But obey the first four 
commandments, and from moral necessity he will 
obey the others. The first violated, and all are 
violated : the first kept, and all are kept. The first 
are the foundation of obedience ; the last the struc- 
ture of character that is raised upon it; and while 
the broad deep foundation bears up the edifice 
which rests upon it, that bright, and beautiful, and 
firm, as it may be, has no power to sustain and se- 
cure its foundation from the wasting waters that may 
be dashing at its base. 

What then is the consequence of violating the first 
four commandments ? Are not the securities of 
true religion, and the sanctions of all true morality 
destroyed ? Shall I go back, and point you to the 
three thousand corpses that crowded the camp of 
Israel ? Shall I point you to the dead sons of 
Aaron, their censers in their palsied hands ? Shall 
1 remind you of the son of Shelometh, who cursed, 
and blasphemed, and expired ? Shall I tell you 
again of him who broke the Sabbath, and died 
for his presumption? Fearful must be the conse- 
quences of violating these commandments, or such 
visitations of death had not been so certainly, so 
solemnly, and publicly executed. Shall I point you 
to France, who in madness declared, destroy the 
21 



2&2 DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



Sabbath and the Sacrament, and we blot out the 
christian religion, and the name of God! She did it, 
and three millions of souls paid to her madness the 
forfeiture of life. These are the recorded admoni- 
tions of God to preserve his being, and his worship, 
and his cause. 

As a parental warning, God declares, " I will cass 
your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, 
and my soul shall abhor you. I will make your 
cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries into desola- 
tion. I will scatter you among the heathen, and 
will draw out a sword after you, and your land shall 
be a desolation, and your cities waste. And upon 
them that are left of you, I will send a faintness, and 
the sound of a shaking leaf shall chase them. They 
shall flee, as fleeing from a sword, and they shall 
fall when none pursueth." Follow the footsteps of 
man from the moment of these declarations, and you 
will see all the evils of this world rising from sin 
against the first four commandments. Find one 
spot where these are kept, there virtue blooms, and 
grace abounds, to adorn and bless. 

I would present Israel, when in idolatry, then 
deep in calamity. I would present the captivity of 
Babylon ; Israel distant in bondage, that God's 
Sabbaths might be kept. I would present the 
wasting away of the glory of Lebanon; the ruins of 
the temple, and the city of God ; the mournings of 
Zion ; the wide dispersion of unhappy Israel ; the 
"fear" and " faintness," and "the falling when none 
pursueth." I would point you to the ruin of christian 
churches ; to the abominations of the east amid the 
ashes of a thousand altars ; to the phrenzy and blood 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



243 



of superstition; the lengthened and desolating wars, 
with the woes that now settle, as the scourges of 
Heaven, on the race of mankind. 

Go where you will, forgotten and neglected wor- 
ship, forgotten and neglected Sabbaths, a profaned 
and forgotten God, are the living springs whence 
are poured out these oceans of wo. The voice of 
warning which now rises from these broken institu- 
tions of heaven, with the groans of nations borne on 
the winds, is louder in our ears than the voice of 
mighty thunderings, and warn us of judgments de- 
solating as the rush of many waters. If all Israel 
" quaked greatly," as Jehovah gave his law, O, how 
can we but tremble before it, as the power of its 
penalties is drawn in the blood of ten thousand vic- 
tims; ratified on the cross, and demanding full 
redemption in the unerring certainties and unending 
issues of the judgment day ? 

Violate the first four commandments, or any one 
of them, and as an immediate consequence you open 
a direct inroad on moral principle, that will prepare 
the way, not for one murder or theft, or perjury, but 
for thousands, with all the countless immoralities 
and crimes that swell the calendar of human guilt 

What has filled the world with cruelty and death, 
with prisons and scaffolds ; and hell with spirits 
prematurely ripened for its woes ? I speak not 
ignorantly. Go from convict to convict, from 
dungeon to dungeon ; ask each tenant of his dreary 
cell, what led you to this home ? The reply of one, 
with scarce an exception, will be the reply of all— - 
M the Sabbath was violated and forgotten — the sa*K> 



244 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



tuary abandoned — God's name and his worship 
profaned, and the restraints of bis grace, and the 
guardianship of his care were lost — corrupted and 
uncontrolled passions swayed me — the fear of the 
law, these walls, this dreary cell, and death itself, 
with all the endless miseries of hell, could not arrest 
me in the course of crime. 

This is the course of nature, such God allows, 
yea, in justice, decides it shall be ; and of this ex- 
perience and the scriptures assure us. The greater 
barrier surmounted, nothing obstructs the course of 
passion. The grand defence thrown down, and the 
torrent sweeps resistless and uncontrolled. It is 
here, when men disregard God and his institutions, 
professing themselves wise they become fools ; and 
in accordance with the laws of their own nature, 
and in righteous judgment, God gives them up to a 
reprobate mind, filled with all unrighteousness.* 

What is there here but an utter prostration 
of moral principle — the ruin of the social virtues ; 
and, with eternity in view, what interest can com- 
pare with this I What evil can exceed the cor- 
ruption of virtue, and the prostration of principle ? 
Here, temporal and eternal good are blasted for- 
ever. 

Moral principle emanates from God, and all its ap- 
propriate objects are created by the divine existence. 



* Lord Chief Justice Hale remarks, that of all the persons who were 
convicted of capital crimes, while he was on the bench, he found a. few 
only, who would not confess, on inquiry, that they began their career of 
wickedness by neglecting the duties of the Sabbath, and by vicious con- 
duct on that day. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



245 



This principle of our being lies dormant, and dies 
away when its appropriate objects are withdrawn 
or forgotten. Hence, whatever leads to the forget- 
fulness of God and his holy institutions, conducts 
directly to its prostration and ruin. 

It is the Sabbath and the worship of God, with 
their connexions and dependencies, which constitute 
the appropriate objects of man's moral feeling,re- 
duces that feeling to settled principle, and pre- 
serves it from extinction and decay. 

Trespass on either of these first commandments, 
and you at once make war upon the source and se- 
curity, yea, upon the very existence of moral prin- 
ciple. You enter upon the work of exterminating 
from your own being every vestige of moral worth, 
every possibility of thorough reformation and of eter- 
nal enjoyment. It is here that you destroy the last 
hold of Heaven upon the soul, sunder yourself from 
God, and sympathy with goodness, and are sent 
afloat like an abandoned wreck amid storms, with no 
certainty, no possibility of reaching safety or repose- 
You become as the spirit shut out from heaven in 
eternal wanderings of despair, without one princi- 
ple that can claim affinity with goodness, or kindle 
desire for holiness. The last chain that bound you 
to the kingdom of Jehovah is severed. No power 
remains to re-unite the heart now lost to moral ob- 
jects, and devoid of moral principle, to the faintest 
hope of future good. 

But this is not all. This war is wide in its range. 
It is continually sweeping moral principle from eve- 
ry soul it can reach, destroying the sacredness and 

21* 



246 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



reality of its appropriate objects, and strengthening 
the desires of the unregenerate soul, which ever loves 
to forget God and his institutions. Hence, while 
we shrink back from the murderer, the thief, and the 
perjured, as from a pestilence, our safety endangered 
and our indignation roused, the example of those 
who disregard God and his law becomes attractive 
and persuasive to degenerate men, and carries a 
power silent and unseen, yet more deadly than the 
pestilence of night. The influence of such men is 
like the whirlpool, extending wide and fearful, to en- 
gulf in its dark and returnless bosom. 

.1 cannot leave this subject without another brief 
consideration, as illustrating and enforcing the pre- 
eminent importance of these divine commands. 
The specific objects which they regard are of eter- 
nal duration, and lay the foundation for their un- 
ceasing existence. They are the laws which God 
has made known to us, as the security of divine and 
endless realities, to preserve inviolate the ever open- 
ing excellencies and glories of the Deity. They arose 
from the nature of moral being, and must be co-ex- 
istent with the principles of that being. 

Is it so with the other commandments ? Impor- 
tant as they now are, and clothed, too, as they 
are with the authority of God, the necessity and im- 
portance of these shall soon be laid aside ; for their 
specific objects are soon to be removed. 

A few more years, and no law will be required 
against the abuse of parents, for parental and filial 
relations will be ended. There will be no murder to 
forbid, for all men shall become immortal. " There 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



247 



shall be no law against adultery, for we shall be as 
angels, neither marrying nor giving in marriage." 
There will be no law against theft, and perjury, and 
covetousness, for you shall possess forever all that im- 
mortality can desire in heaven, or ask but one drop of 
water to cool your parched tongue in hell. When the 
specific and appropriate objects of these laws, as the 
reason for their enactment, shall disappear, the laws 
themselves shall die. But will the time ever come 
when the nature and necessities of moral being 
shall not require the first four laws of the deca- 
logue? Will their specific and appropriate objects 
ever die ? No : for when will God cease to exist, 
or lose his supremacy? Never will sacredness die 
away from his name, that we may take it on our lips 
in vain, and be guiltless. Above all, when will it 
be, that He is not to be adored and worshipped by 
the holy service of the Sabbath institution ? The 
Sabbath, the name, the worship, and the being of 
God are forever and forever. Heaven is his home — 
there is the temple of his praise, the eternal worship 
of his name ; and heaven itself, filled with its re- 
deemed multitudes, is the Sabbath of the people of 
God for eternity. That holy institution that cele- 
brates the power and wisdom of creation, that com- 
memorates the still greater work of redeeming love, 
and serves to honour God, and bring forever upon 
the heart a brighter and a brighter image of Jeho- 
vah ; that is the emblem of heaven, created and hal- 
lowed by the rest of God, as moral being sprung 
forth on earth shall never cease till moral being shall 
expire. He, then, that violates the Sabbath, and 



243 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



thus deranges and detracts from the worship of God, 
strikes not at an institution of man, but of the Al- 
mighty ; not an institution of time, but of eternity. 
He raises his hand against the rest, and the worship, 
and the glory of heaven ; declares war with the 
saints and angels, and with God himself in the 
glories of an eternal Sabbath. Against the com- 
bined fury of the wicked in despair, these four com- 
mandments, with their sacred and eternal objects 
shall stand, and the saints and angels shall keep 
them holy — heaven their home — God their father, 
and eternity their Sabbath of unending worship and 
unending rest. 

Thus, I have attempted to show, that upon these 
first four commandments, these eternal Jaws of God, 
which result from the nature of moral beings, drawn 
out to preserve forever the honour and glory of the 
divine existence, rest the preservation and existence 
of all moral principle ; that without them, there is 
no effectual barriers to vice, or securities for virtue; 
that they sanction and sustain all the other com- 
mandments ; that the history of the world is but one 
unbroken history of crime, of cruelty, and death, 
where these have been unknown or disregarded ; that 
the example of the Jews in their best and purest 
days, together with the word and dispensations 
of God towards that people, clothed these command- 
ments with pre-eminent sacredness and importance. 
And, first of all, that the infinite God was their 
great and specific object ; that it was his honour and 
glory which they defended. So that without them, 
God can neither be honoured nor known ; man made 
happy or holy j but with them, every object that can 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



249 



interest heaven or earth, is secured. Take them 
away, and leave what you will beside, do you leave 
happiness, or hope, or piety ? No. 

Remove them, and then enforce every remaining 
law, and even dry up these passions which urge to 
violation and excess. Make every man to love and 
honour his father and mother; to keep from murder 
and from malice even ; from theft and adultery ; 
from perjury and covetousness. Present the whole 
human family, in the harmony and love of one ex- 
tended brotherhood ; yet where, and what is their 
religion ? Where is God and his worship f Where 
is any thing like preparation for that spiritual world 
to which all men are so rapidly hastening ? With 
all this, you do not give even the hopes or the pros- 
pects of the Deist. 

W 7 hile the violation of any commandment en- 
croaches on the prerogative and honour of Him who 
gave it ; trespasses on the rights and privileges of 
those it was designed to benefit ; remember, that a 
violation of either of these first four commandments 
is a direct attack, not only on the prerogatives and 
honour of God, but on the very existence of Jeho- 
vah ; its immediate influence and ultimate tendency 
is, to bring back the horrors of unbroken atheism, 
leaving no important sanction to one rule of human 
duty ; no security for the lives, the liberties, or pos- 
sessions of men: above all, no security for hope, or 
eternal happiness beyond the grave. 

Without these first four commandments, there is 
no religion left. God's worship dies; the know- 
ledge of his being becomes extinct; and more than 



250 



DUTIES OF THE TOUXG-. 



Egypt's scourges, and Egypt's gloom, settle upon 
the endless destinies of man. 

It is thus, the violation of these commandments is 
a direct and tremendous attack on moral principle, 
and the speedy ruin of private and public virtue. It 
is shutting out the power of heaven from earth, and 
cutting this world asunder from the light and liberty 
of the sons of God. And the responsibility and 
guilt is not to be learned from the destruction of the 
soul alone, but from the deadly influence sent for- 
ward to future years, and the direct dishonour cast 
upon the authority and being of God. 

What then is your duty in view of this first table 
of the law? Does it not demand redemption from 
the long abuse of centuries ? Does it not demand 
it at your hands? It claims again, a resting place 
in the sanctuaries of the Lord, and the deep reve- 
rence of his people. And shall we, who are the suc- 
cessors of Israel to the ark, the covenants and the 
promises ; and, dependent as we are, on virtue and 
religion, rest secure, while these laws are trodden 
under foot ? It is the duty of every man who loves 
his country, and the kingdom of Christ, to with- 
stand the violation of the Sabbath, the name, and 
the worship of God. Do it not ; and Israel's cap- 
tivity, that God's Sabbath might be kept, is but a 
faint emblem of our ruin. Jehovah will be honour- 
ed, and he will be honoured by his own institutions. 
Keep them inviolate, and floods of prosperity and 
blessing will flow in upon us. Do it not, and a 
nation trembles. God will yet write his judgments 
in our ashes. 

In our social and civil relations, this subject speaks 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



251 



to us in commanding language. Unheeded, and we 
are undone. The thousand judgments of God on 
Israel, are but fearful symbols hung out from eter- 
nity, of deeper woes unveiled beyond the grave. 

You have a personal interest here. How would 
you shudder at the charge of crime that human law 
condemns ? How would you shrink from the prison 
and the scaffold ? But are there not other and higher 
laws ? Why so thoughtless of their violation ? May 
you not have broken these ? And why is not the 
thought equally alarming ? O, had you lived when 
Moses was the judge, and God the king, where 
would profaneness, and Sabbath violation, and ne- 
glect of God have left you ? Remember, you have 
a judge, more just and holy than the judge of Is- 
rael, and God is now your king. As long as you 
live, his law has dominion over you. In his sight, 
where does its violation leave you? You may have 
traced the whole book of human law, and stand ex- 
empted from all which the last six commands forbid. 
But are there not other and higher laws ? Are not 
these broken, and have they no claims upon you ? 
Will your character satisfy these? Shrink not from 
the investigation before you. It demands your im- 
mediate and solemn attention. That investigation 
must be had. Then measure not your moral cha- 
racter, nor calculate your final destiny, by the limit- 
ed and feeble enactments of human law, or the im- 
pressions which imperfect education may have given. 
The last judgment will admit no such standards as 
these. Go to the tables of the law ; to the unrepealed 
statutes of the Lord. If they condemn you now, 
remember they will meet you at the judgment. Let 



252 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



past and present disobedience of these first com- 
mands, so pre-eminently sacred, sound an alarm, and 
roll up, like the gatherings of that tempest, from 
which thunderiirgs and lightnings may yet fall with 
more convulsing power than rocked the mount of 
Sinai, and sent a thrill of horror through the ranks 
of Israel. 

That predicted scene of terror and of final doom 
to guilty men, will come. The trumpet of the final 
day will break upon your ears ; the sun and stars 
shall fall, and nature be dissolved. Then shall this 
law of God lay its penalties of death eternal on the 
disobedient in despair. 

When the last table of the law shall be lost amid 
the changes of the resurrection, these first commands 
shall stand forth, as the statutes of eternity, with 
their great and ever living Author ; may God be 
your God and Saviour — his worship your joy and 
glory— His name forever hallowed— His eternity, 
your Sabbath of endless rest. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



253 



CHAPTER XVII. 

On the wise arrangement of God in creation and providence, to render 
mankind happy.— Our safety and happiness found in regarding the 
established and uniform laws of God, in nature, providence, and 
grace. — The evils of life, and the retribution of future misery, the re- 
sult of violating these laws. 

The monarch of Israel on the roof of his palace, 
in one of those splendid evenings, for which Pales- 
tine was distinguished, raising his adoring eyes to 
the starry firmament, thus sang : " The heavens de- 
clare the glory of God ; the firmament showeth his 
handy work; day unto day uttereth speech, and 
night unto night showeth knowledge ; There is no 
speech, nor language, where their voice is not heard. 
Their line is gone out through all the earth ; their 
words unto the end of the world. In them hath he 
set a tabernacle for the sun, which is, as a bride- 
groom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as 
a strong man to run a race. His going forth, is 
from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the 
ends of it; and there is nothing hid from the heat 
thereof. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting 
the soul ; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making 
wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, 
rejoicing the heart ; the commandment of the Lord 
is pure, enlightening the eyes ; the fear of the Lord 
is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the 
Lord are true, and righteous altogether ; more to 
be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine 
gold; sweeter, also, than honey and the honey-comb. 
22 



254 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



Moreover, by them is thy servant warned ; and in 
keeping of them there is great reward." 

The great secret, and end of life well spent, is to 
secure the result which is here brought to view. 
Without this, every thing else is but poor and worth- 
less. The successful method of doing this, is clearly 
pointed out by the wisdom of Inspiration. 

Such are the arrangements of God in nature, pro- 
vidence, and grace ; such are the laws of his king- 
dom, natural, organic, intellectual, and moral, that 
strict observance of these laws would secure all the 
happiness which human nature, in its endlessly di- 
versified susceptibilities, is capable of enjoying. In 
keeping of them there is great reward. 

I am forcibly reminded of the remarks of Robert 
Hall, as illustrating the divine goodness, even in the 
afflictions of life, showing that the misery which 
flows from guilt is calculated to remedy sin itself, 
rising like a barrier to warn against repeated trans- 
gressions, to drive back to reformation and virtue. 
" A consideration," sa}*s this great and good man, 
" a consideration of the benefit of afflictions, should 
teacb us to bear them patiently, when they fall to 
our lot, and to be thankful to heaven for having 
planted such barriers around us, to restrain the ex- 
uberance of our follies and crimes. Let these sa- 
cred fences be removed ; exempt ambition from dis- 
appointment, and the guilty from remorse; let luxury 
be unattended by disease, and indiscretion lead to no 
embarrassment or distress; our vices would range 
without control, and the impetuosity of our passions 
have no bounds ; every family would be filled with 
strife ; every nation with carnage, and a deluge of 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



255 



calamities would break in upon us, which would 
produce more misery in a year, than is inflicted by 
the hand of Providence in a lapse of ages. 1 ' 

The great inquiry of wisdom is to seek a remedy 
for all these evils, over which we have cast a mo- 
mentary glance ; and the great object of charity is 
to see that remedy applied. The superficial obser- 
ver, as he contemplates the calamities that fill our 
world, and the more numerous avenues by which we 
are exposed to distress, and the obstacles opposing 
virtue and holiness, might regard our world as one 
great nursery of disease, one vast receptacle of 
misery, filled with beings whom Providence has 
endowed with susceptibilities to suffer, rather than 
with capacities to enjoy : but the cause of all this 
appears on a moment's reflection, and man's miseries 
are seen to rise the fruit of his crimes ; and that but 
for these, we should see exemplified what is actually 
the case, that God has made all things well, and that 
in keeping his commandments there is great reward. 

The guilt and misery of this world are not, and 
should not be disguised ; and I wish, in this place, 
by the actual presentation of their nature and conse- 
quences, to secure a regard for those virtues, which 
are an effectual barrier against evil, as they are 
foreign to vice and immorality. 

The sentiment which I have already borrowed, 
from the Psalmist of Israel, is, that obedience to the 
laws of God in nature, organic, intellectual, and 
moral, would render mankind as happy as they are 
capable of being. 

The young are laying a foundation for future 



256 DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



character, and for everlasting retribution. You are 
not influencing, or acting, on the providential or 
judicial arrangements of God, and his future deci- 
sions ; these are all formed and settled ; but you are 
preparing your hearts, forming your characters, and 
moulding your susceptibilities, to meet those esta- 
blished providences, and immutable laws of God's 
economy. The result, as to your condition of 
enjoyment or sorrow, life or death, is not to be known 
from what God will do in future, but from what you 
are now doing, and from the character you are now 
forming, and which will result in painful or pleasure- 
able effects, as it shall agree with, or be found opposed 
to the character and government of God. That 
character and that government are fixed. The 
laws resulting from the one, and guarding the other, 
are immutable, and the providences which arise from 
both, will be productive of joy or sorrow, life or 
death, heaven or hell, just according to the moral 
character which you form and with which you must 
meet them. 

The position which I have laid down, as borrow- 
ed from Inspiration, is, that if your character and 
conduct conform to the character and government of 
God, you will be as happy as your natures will 
allow. And if this is true, a subject of no ordinary 
interest is brought before you ; and could I bring it 
in any other name, or under any new aspect, but 
that of religion, I might command your whole souls 
in anticipation of the good, and in efforts to reap 
the reward. 

God has so arranged this world and his govern- 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



257 



mem with men, that their obedience to his laws 
secures their happiness. What I wish you to see, is, 
that conformity to these laws renders your happi- 
ness certain ; a violation of them entails upon you 
misery, and deep sorrow of heart. God has made 
you a physical being, with an animal structure, or 
what we may call organic nature ; he has made you 
an intelligent being ; and also, he has endowed you 
with moral and immortal principles. In this three- 
fold view, we are to regard mankind, animal or 
organic, intellectual and moral. 

To each of these natures, if I may so call them, 
there are appropriate fields of action ; laws that 
regulate each, and subjects and influences suited to 
each, and all of them are sources of peculiar and 
exquisite sensibility. 

The first, and inferior, is the groundwork of the 
other. The intellectual holds an intermediate rela- 
tion to both the others ; it is the guide of the one, 
and the subordinate auxiliary to the supreme direc- 
tion of moral being, the affections of the soul. 
Intellect controls the physical nature, and moral 
sentiments hold undisputed supremacy over both the 
organic structure and the intellectual faculties. 

Though reason is man's high and boasted pre- 
rogative, moral principle, either in its sanctified or 
depraved influence, holds its empire over it with 
almost perfect and unlimited sway. Each of these 
departments are direct tributaries to moral character, 
and each is fast heaping up the exhaustless stores of 
future and of endless sensibility, of joy or sorrow. 
Neither of them are to know or suffer death, but to 
22* 



259 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



lead on to a resurrection, and a state of more enlarg- 
ed and lively sensibility. 

To each of these natures there are objects per- 
fectly adapted, and laws clearly defined. Objects, 
the right contemplation and use of which is certain, 
substantial, and continued enjoyment. Laws, the 
regard and obedience of which are perfect security 
and peace ; in keeping of them is great reward. 
And all the pain of our organic nature ; all the 
throes of our animal sensibility, spring from an 
abuse of these objects and an infringement of these 
laws. 

To introduce you more fully and clearly to what 
I mean, for it is a subject of valuable contemplation ; 
and I can only allude to some general principles; 
look out upon this world, its multiplied ma- 
terials, productions, and changes, and see how all is 
adapted to the structure of your organic nature ; 
how delightfully fitted your unimpaired organs are, 
to gather profit, and to drink in pleasure from the 
works of creation, and the arrangements of provi- 
dence ; and how a regard to all their established 
laws would secure your peace and safety. 

Tell me how could you make a world better 
suited to your organized existence ? For the eye, 
could you spread richer verdure, fairer flowers, or 
deck the sky with stars more splendid; give to the 
blaze of day more brilliancy of light, or spread the 
evening clouds with richer beauties, where sinks the 
orb of day as in a bed of glory ? Could you pour 
into the listening ear sweeter sounds, or borrow 
softer melodies than are borne upon the air; paint 
fairer fruits than mellow in the sun or blush upon the 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



259 



Tine; or breathe upon ihe morning air a richer fra- 
grance than rises with the honeyed dew? 

So much of happiness, so much of usefulness, so 
much of true piety and exalted devotion is found 
here, that I am not engaged in poetry or declama- 
tion, in urging them upon your consideration. To 
the Psalmist, to Solomon, to Isaiah, these were 
themes of most ennobling and devout contemplation ; 
and but for these, with the numerous events which 
transpire in connexion with them, I know not how 
we should prove the Bible true. It is the harmony 
of the Bible with nature and with providence, and 
the adaptedness of the whole to man's organic and 
moral being, that establishes the truth of the Bible, 
and displays the existence, wisdom, and benevolence 
of its Author. The preservation of all these organs, 
active and health}?, with that cultivation of which 
they are susceptible, are sources of high enjoyment, 
and means of extensive good, as we refer to that 
kind arrangement which God has made to meet 
them. 

So, in regard to our intellect : you have given 
perception and the relation of external objects. 
Reflection, with all those powers of reason which 
can borrow pleasure and secure profit from the 
experience of the past, from the arrangements of the 
present, and with the aid of anticipation and hope, 
with wisdom of calculation, prepare for the future, 
and gather its enjoyments from the perception of its 
approach. Thus, by the aid of faith, fortified by 
experience, you may secure the blessings of hope, 
and thus make intellect subservient to the high enjoy- 



260 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



ment of the moral affections ; stimulate the pleasure 
of mental perceptions, which will cast their benign 
influence back upon organic nature, and make even 
this crumbling tenement of clay assume a dignity 
and worth, as the habitation of an immortal mind 
and a redeemed soul, which shall point to its re- 
surrection and its spiritual state, where disease and 
decay shall be unknown. 

What can you conceive deficient, in the whole 
kingdom of thought, and what object, subject, or 
relation addressed to mind, of which mind is suscep- 
tible, but what is found to ennoble and make man 
happy, as an intelligent and rational being, when 
his intellect is unimpaired and rightly directed ? 

There is also a moral nature ; the affections of 
the soul, and as these are innumerable, active, rest- 
less, ranging, and eternal, so the field of their exer- 
cise is unlimited and as richly stored as the ex- 
haustless bounties of a beneficent Creator : God 
himself, in his holy, unexplored, and unexplorable 
perfections, stands forth in the mildness and the 
majesty of a father and a friend, to arouse, to culti- 
vate, and receive them ; and as from the pure springs 
of his own exhaustless beneficence and bliss, to pour 
back upon the soul of moral and sanctified sensi- 
bility, an exuberance and an eternity of enjoyment. 

Has he not made all things well ; and in keeping 
his commandments is there not great reward . ? 

But do you say, that after all these provisions of 
God, in nature and providence, man, as to his 
organic nature is a sufferer; as to mind, a maniac ; 
and in morals, painfully alive ? True, it is so. 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



261 



But why is it so ? Is the fault in God, in creation, 
or in providence ? I grant, this world is full of 
misery, casualties, disease, ■ derangement, death; 
and hell is crowded with unnumbered victims of 
eternal wo. But why is it so? I reply, because 
there is consta nt infringement and violation of the 
laws of organic, intellectual, and moral nature. Here 
is the source of misery, temporal and eternal. 

" He that would win the race, must guide his horse 
Obedient to the customs of the course ; 
Else, though unequalled to the goal he flies, 
A meaner than himself shall gain the prize. 
Grace leads the right way ; if you choose the wrong, 
Take it, and perish ; but restrain your tongue ; 
Charge not, with light sufficient, and left free, 
Your wilful suicide on God's decree." 

You will find no diseased organ but what has 
arisen from some violation of a wise law of nature. 
Misfortunes and casualties have their origin in 
disregard of known and well established laws. In- 
temperance of every kind will chase away health 
and beauty. Bold and extravagant exploits, that 
respect not the laws of nature, will result in dis- 
asters of shipwrecks and conflagrations; and even 
the submerged cities of a volcano, will read their 
misery in presumptuous entrenchment on a province 
which God, by the very arrangements of nature, had 
guarded from the safe approach of man. So, I may 
say, that every sorrow or calamity of life, results 
from the periling of what you had no right to ex- 
pose ; from a gross disregard of God's wise laws. 

Do you say results are not to be foreseen ? Did 
you examine, and by the light of nature, and of pro- 



262 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



violence, and the Bible, and experience, did you la- 
bour to anticipate results? The laws of nature are 
so fixed, and the course of providence so settled and 
uniform, that there is no room for deception, but to 
wilful blindness : and so kindly is every thing ar- 
ranged, that there is no source of misery, but in. 
guilty violation of God's holy will. 

I have alluded to those wise and beneficent laws, 
in your three-fold state ; animal, intellectual, and 
moral, a regard to all of these would make you per- 
fectly happy : because abundant objects are appro- 
priate to each department, suited to high and end- 
less eujoyment. But a violation of the laws of either 
of these constitutions, of necessity incurs guilt, not 
only, but induces misery. Exhaust those hours 
which God has given for rest, in dissipation and de- 
bauchery, and you lay yourself of necessity, by the 
violation of a wise constitutional law, beneath guilt 
and misery. Break over the bounds of temperance, 
and you crumble down a constitution of vigour and 
beauty, that otherwise might have survived the 
seasons of seventy years, and died, only as it wasted 
away in peaceful decline the last moments of its 
destined duration. So press forward, even in the 
laudable pursuits of this world, beyond what God 
requires for health, prosperity, and holy living; 
overtask the energies God has given ; brave seas 
and storms; press on in eager pursuit, beyond the 
demands of want, and usefulness, defying the influ- 
ence of climate and of seasons; seizing the hours of 
night to prolong the labour of the da}-, (you may 
call it enterprise if you please, industry, love of 
study, and yet it is folly and presumption,) and you 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



263 



will not only incur the guilt of disregarding the 
premonitions of nature, in the arrangement of her 
salutary laws, but you must incur premature decay, 
and an early grave, and transmit, in the line of your 
posterity, weakness, and disease, and death. All 
this arises, and it is what we see every day, from an 
unwarrantable inroad upon that wise constitution 
which God has formed, and lays the foundation for 
deep regret, and protracted misery, and sometimes for 
that remorse which reveals the guilt of this transaction, 
as well as the sorrow it entails. Were it not for 
this, who can say, that every man, when we had re- 
covered from the shock which has already been 
given to our whole race, might not live the allotled 
period of time, his three-score years and ten. Casu- 
alties indeed, excepted, and these would no doubt be 
of rare occurrence, just like all exceptions to a ge- 
neral rule, only to preserve more inviolate the sta- 
bility of the general principle. God might, indeed, 
dart down from the clouds his lightnings, or heave 
the earth with volcanoes, where it had reposed in 
peace since creation, yet this is uncertain, and if so, 
would not destroy the principle, but lay open ener- 
gies at the command of Omnipotence, to punish of- 
fenders. 

It is want of temperance, sobriety, and chastity, 
with those calm emotions of the soul, on which so 
much depends, which entails disease and death, from 
generation to generation, and makes this world one 
broad burying-ground of infants and of youth, w hile 
the monument is seldom found of the man of seventy 
years. M 

It is the same as to mind ; violate the laws 



264 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



of its discipline, and it becomes deranged or de- 
stroyed; neglected, it sleeps and dies. 

And the moral constitution also has its laws, by 
which it secures pleasure, or the violation of which 
is the fruitful source of evil. The statutes of this 
constitution are what we call the moral law. Let 
any man disregard this, trespass upon it, and he is 
continually infusing into his moral existence the 
poison and the death of moral sensibility. He is 
fast doing to his conscience, his affections, and all 
the moral faculties of the soul, what he has just done 
to the living fibre of his animal frame. He is de- 
stroying the soul, and preparing to cast it prema- 
turely in the grave of the second death. He brings 
darkness upon his mind, hardness upon his heart, 
and a deathlike insensibility pervades his soul. He 
dies in trespasses and sins ; his moral being, as to 
usefulness and hope, is extinct. He lies before us 
in all the loathful deformity of moral death, and is 
doomed to the pains of an endless hell. 

Here is the result of invading and violating the 
principles of nature, and trampling on her salutary 
laws. Review this grand law, and see where your 
happiness lies. See what your natures are, and 
what by piety they may become. Those bodies, 
organic structures, yet to be roused to the living 
sensibilities of eternity, and draw through every 
channel of feeling the pleasures or the pains of fu- 
turity : those minds, ennobled or debased, to be 
angels of light, or fiends in the phrenzy of the pit ; 
those immortal souls, sons of God, or heirs of hell. 

I pray you, so live now, that you may carry up 
in life, a constitution unimpaired and pure, that 



DUTIES OF THE YOUNG. 



265 



hereafter you may stand in innocence and virtue. 
Impair not the reflections of the mind ; oh, stamp 
not the soul, in this early day of its formation, with 
sin and misery. You may sin in the revels of in- 
dulged desire, and hope for repentance and grace to 
restore all you lose. But no, dear youth, no ; re- 
pentance cannot give back what you now forfeit. 
Even grace restores no violated laws. You will 
carry up in life some fresh memorials of every 
youthful indiscretion, and sin will leave its stain and 
sorrow on the soul. And when your bodies, with 
the keen sensibilities of a new resurrection ; your 
minds, in the clearness of the eternal day, and your 
souls, in all the vigour of immortality, are yet to be 
united in another world; not the cold river of death 
will cleanse your guilt away ; not even the crystal 
waters from the throne, will wash out your sin. 

If lost, you will find eternal misery, the reason- 
able and necessary result of your own unrighteous- 
ness. As the spirit sinks in the horrors of its inter- 
minable anguish at every step, it shall reap the fruit 
of its own voluntary choice, and find springing 
within, those ruinous and restless passions, which 
were loved and indulged on earth, and which, in the 
still broader freedom of their eternal reign, shall 
kindle in the soul its inextinguishable fires, and 
fasten on its imperishable sensibility, the worm that 
never dies. 

The damnation of lost spirits, is the natural and 
necessary result of their own sin, turning the soul 
itself into a living hell of inflamed passions. And 
as the seat of all this is mind, undying thought, and 
feeling, the Bible, even in its glowing imagery of 
. 23 



266 



DUTIES OF THE YOI.M, 



distress and anguish, must fall far short of the 
reality of this dreadful and durable state. The 
pains of prisons, dungeons, and fires, can be en- 
dured, but "a wounded spirit who can bear ?" Bear 
it ! It cannot be borne. The soul withers before 
it — "it is eternal dying!" There is a refuge — a 
remedy. I point you — I urge you to its blessings, 
the blood of Christ— the proffered pardon of His 
merits. With all the precaution we bring, and with 
which the Bible speaks, you are involved in the 
evils from which it would redeem and save. The 
SPIRIT waits to fit you for the skies. O, turn and 
live, 

" Approved of God, the judge of all ; and have 
Your name recorded in the book of life." 



THE END. 



ERRATUM. 

Page 27 — last line, for successively, read successfully. 



COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM 



OF 

MODERN GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY: 

REVISED AND ENLARGED 

From the London edition of " Pinnock's Modern Geography," and 
adapted to the use of Academies and Schools in 
the United States, with an Atlas. 

BY EDWIN WILLIAMS, 

Author of the New Universal Gazetteer, New-York Annual Re- 
gister, etc. 

NEW-YORK : 

LEAVITT, LORD & CO., 
180 Broadway. 



Extracted critical remarks from the English Reviews of Pinnock 's 
Modern Geography and History. 

" Mr. Pinnock's Catechisms and other publications 
have made his name universally known throughout the 
country, as one of the most meritorious and successful au- 
thors in this department of literature, who have ever di- 
rected their attention to inform the rising generation. 
The present volume is, in all respects, worthy of his name ; 
it is well conceived, well arranged, diligently edited, and 
beautifully got up, at a very moderate cost. By mingling 
the attractions of history with the dry details of geographical 
science, the study is rendered pleasing and interesting. 
Ample intelligence is produced, in the first instance, and 
then the learner is judiciously exercised by questions on 
the subjects as they occur." — Literary Gazette. 

" This is truly the age of intellectual improvement, 
and in every form and manner exertions are multiplied to 
advance it. Daily the unwearied press teems with new 
publications in aid of truth and knowledge. Compendi- 
ums, abridgments, and compressments of scientific lore, 
rapidly succeed each other in their pretensions to public 
favor ; and it is now a point of competition amongst au- 
thors and publishers to give the greatest quantity of ralu- 



able information for the least money. It was, however, it 
seems, reserved for the experienced author of the work 
before us to excel all his predecessors in this particular ; 
and we cannot restrain our admiration when we observe 
the immense collection of geographical and historical 
learning comprised in this little book. It is impossible, 
in the limits to which this notice can extend, to give a de- 
tailed account of the plan of Mr. Pinnock's work : suffice 
it, that its title is fully answered in the compilation, and 
that it is, in our judgment, eminently calculated to super- 
sede the use of those elementary geographical works in 
present use, which, however useful they may be, are ut- 
terly poor and meagre when compared to this. The as- 
tronomical portion of Mr. Pinnock's book is excellent, 
and the historical memoranda, which follow the account 
of each country, are highly interesting, and tend to en- 
liven the study of geography, while they furnish a fund 
of instruction to the learner. 

u On the whole, this multum in parvo y for such it pre- 
eminently is, is calculated to become a universal instruc- 
ter in the knowledge of the earth. It will not be con- 
fined to the use of schools, for adults will find it a valua- 
ble addition to their Biblical store." — Courier. 

" This is unquestionably the very cheapest work of 
the sort that has hitherto issued from the press; and it is 
but doing a bare act of justice to the public-spirited pub- 
lishers to say, that they deserve the most unlimited pat- 
ronage. The literary arrangement of the whole does 
great credit to the well known talents and indefatigable 
research of Mr. Pinnock; and instead of the study being, 
as was the case some twenty years ago, dry and almost 
appalling, it is rendered familiar and entertaining, from 
its being mixed up with numerous anecdotes associated 
with the history of the countries described.'"' — Berkshire 
Chronicle. 

'* A truly comprehensive compendium of geographical 
and historical information, judiciously blended, has been 
heretofore a great desideratum. Mr. Pinnock's name 
has for many years been a standard warranty to school 
books ; and this, his last labor, fully sustains his estab- 



a 

lished reputation. It is a very comprehensive condensa- 
tion of all which is necessary in teaching the important 
science of geography. The statistical details of coun- 
tries are pleasantly relieved by a series of admirable histo- 
rical memoranda, which bear evidence of fidelity and a 
deep research. We are surprised, in looking through the 
book, to observe what a vast quantity of instruction is 
comprised in its 446 pages." — Sunday Times. 

" We have just now before us a handsome and com- 
pact little volume, ' got up' with great care, taste, and 
judgment : * A Grammar of Modern Geography and His- 
tory' The quantity of really useful information that it 
contains is astonishing." — La Belle Assemblee. 

"To Mr. Pinnock belongs the merit of inventing those 
Catechisms of Science and General Knowledge, which 
even a Lord Chancellor condescended to read and to 
praise. Nothing more is necessary to be said to recom- 
mend his book in every quarter." — London Magazine. 

" Grammar of Geography and History. — Every per- 
son engaged in the education of children, will be much 
pleased to turn over the pages of one of the best, because 
most simplified, and at the same time compendious works 
on geography that has ever yet appeared. The name of Pin- 
nock stands at the head of modern pioneers in the march of 
Juvenile Intellect ; and the present volume is another exhi- 
bition of his meritorious industry. It is announced among 
our advertisements, and we are sure that our readers will be 
thankful for thus having specially directed their attention 
to so useful, elegant, and withal very cheap a publication." 
Taunton Courier. 

" Pinnock' s Modern Geography. — We call the atten- 
tion of our readers, and more especially the heads of se- 
minaries, to a useful, splendid, and singularly cheap work, 
just published by Poole 8? Edwards, entitled * A Com- 
prehensive Grammar of Modern Geography and History.' 
Without any exception, it is the best book of the sort 
hitherto published." — Windsor Herald. 

" This little book is of a description much superior to 
the ordinary class of school books. Its author needs no 



4 



praise from us, as his long and faithful services to the cause 
of education have met that general approbation which is 
their fittest and highest reward. We are happy to say, that 
the same judicious industry which distinguished his 
smaller works for the benefit of children, is displayed in 
full force in the little volume now on our table. It is 
well arranged, and written in a clear, simple style. But 
it is also much more than a mere outline of geography, 
for it also contains an admirable summary of the most 
important points in history and chronology : and its pages 
are interspersed with interesting physical facts relating 
to the various countries under consideration. We ap- 
prove much the catechetical system of teaching, which is 
provided for by questions appended to each section. These 
will enable the self-instructer to ascertain with ease and 
certainty what real progress he has made in the acquisi- 
tion of knowledge. A good treatise of this comprehen- 
sive nature has long been wanting in our schools. To those 
whose time will not permit them to turn to more ponder- 
ous sources of information, and to those who may wish to 
refresh their memories by looking over an accurate sum- 
mary of facts already known, we heartily recommend this 
Geography as the best elementary work we have seen." — 
London Weekly Review. 

From the New-York Evening Post. 

To the publishers, the public are indebted for an ele- 
mentary work on Geography, which, from a more atten- 
tive examination than we are usually able to give to books 
of that description, we think will prove a very useful vol- 
ume in the education of young persons. The work we al- 
lude to is a very neat and well printed edition of Pin- 
nock's Modern Geography and History, wholly revised and 
much enlarged by Edwin Williams, of whose accuracy 
and research, as a statistical writer, the public have al- 
ready had various satisfactory evidences. The depart- 
ment of knowledge in whieh the labors of Mr. Williams 
have been mainly exerted, have necessarily furnished him 
with a Gopious store of materials highly useful to be em- 
ployed in a work like that which has now engaged his pen. 
The original work of Mr. Pinnock bore a high reputation 



5 



both in England and this country, and its value is now very 
greatly increased by the extensive and judicious improve- 
ments made by Mr. Williams. To convey some idea of 
the superior excellence of the present edition over any pre- 
vious one, it needs only to be stated that the portion rela- 
ting to America, has been wholly rewritten and enlarged 
so as to extend through more than a hundred additional 
pages. The recent changes in the political divisions of 
South America are also carefully noted, and a succinct and 
clear history of its various revolutions is given. Numer- 
ous other improvements of the original work have been 
made by Mr. Williams, but what we have stated, will 
serve to convey some idea of the additional value he has 
imparted to a production which before enjoyed a high rep- 
utation. The publishers deserve credit fo the exceedingly 
neat style in which they have published this useful ele- 
mentary work. 

• From the Commercial Advertiser. 
Pinnock has done very essential service to the cause 
of education, by his excellent editions of established 
school books. To go no farther, this is the best compendium 
of geography we have yet seen for schools. The Euro- 
pean States are never treated with the importance they de 
serve in our ordinary school books of this description. 
Here they receive great attention, and the American de- 
partment, under Mr Williams' careful and accurate super- 
intendence, is not behind them, while the history of each 
State is woven in its leading facts with its description. 

From the New- York American. 
This is a well printed, and we dare say, a well digested 
compound of geography and history, adapted for young 
persons. The portion relating to America has been re- 
written here and much extended, and in that very fact we 
see evidence to strengthen a conviction we have long en- 
tertained, and occasionally expressed, that the elementary 
works — those of history especially — designed for Ameri- 
can schools, should be written at home. 

From the Neto- York Weekly Messenger. 
We have rarely met with a work of this size embrac- 



6 



ing so large a fund of useful, we might say necessary, 
knowledge of a geographical and historical character. 
This work is formed on the basis of Pinnock's celebra- 
ted Manual of Geography, combining the leading facts of 
history. It has been revised by Edwin Williams, Esq., a 
gentleman well known as the author of the New- York An- 
nual Register, and New Universal Gazetteer, &c. That 
part of the work relating to our own country has 
been entirely rewritten, and occupies about one hundred 
closely printed pages. It will command a place, as a 
class book, in all our respectable seminaries of learning ; 
but a work of this kind ought not and will not be con- 
fined to schools. It will be found in the library of the 
scholar — the cheerful and happy dwelling of the farmer — 
the workshop of the mechanic — the closet of the student 
— and the counting-room of the merchant, by all of whom 
it may be advantageously consulted as a book of refer- 
ence. 

From the Knickerbocker, 
Mr. Edwin Williams, whose " Annual Register" and 
" Universal Gazetteer" are so favorably known to the 
public, has recently issued — revised and enlarged from the 
London edition, and adapted to the use of Academies 
and Schools in the United States — Pinnock's celebrated 
Modern Geography. The part relating to America has 
received numerous important additions in the revision, and 
the whole may be relied on us affording a faithful picture of 
the present state of the world, as far as known. The 
work presents a combination of geography and history, 
which renders it both useful and entertaining. The latter 
quality is an unusual feature in most of our modern school 
geographies. 

From the New- York Courier and Enquirer. 
Williams' Geography. — The habits and studies of Mr. 
Williams render him peculiarly fitted for an undertaking 
of this sort, and he has performed the task well. Pinnock's 
original work is in some respects one of the best to be 
found, but the labors of Mr. Williams hare rendered this 
edition exceedingly valuable. We hare looked this book 
through with considerable attention, and find a mass of 



7 



American information there embodied far beyond our ex- 
pectation. We question, indeed, whether any other book 
in print contains as much ; and we are mistaken if it is not 
extensively made use of hereafter in our schools and acad- 
emies. Few men in the country have amassed more sta- 
tistical material than Mr. Williams, and none have spread 
it before the public with more accuracy. This book alone 
is sufficient to entitle him to the thanks of the commu- 
nity. 

From the New-Yorker, 
Pinnock's Geography. — Mr. Edwin Williams, favora- 
bly known as the compiler of several statistical works of 
acknowledged merit, has just submitted to the public an 
Americanized edition of Pinnock's " Comprehensive System 
of Geography and History" — the part relating to the Uni- 
ted States having been entirely re-written and extended 
over one hundred pages. The high reputation of the original 
author as a geographer, affords a satisfactory guaranty for 
the character of the work, which is adapted to the use of 
seminaries without forfeiting its claims on the attention of 
the more abstract student of geography and history. 

From the New- York Observer. 
Williams' Geography and History. — Mr. Edwin Wil- 
liams, the publisher and compiler of the New- York Annual 
Register, has prepared a new geography for the use of 
schools, founded on Pinnock's work on modern geography, 
which has been revised and extended. The plan is to com- 
bine a summary of the history of each country with its 
geography, and to adapt it to the use of schools and acade- 
mies, by references to the maps, and by questions. The 
part of the work relating to America has been entirely re- 
written, and copious additions have been made to other 
parts of the volume. We have not found time to examine 
the work critically, but we have no doubt, from what we 
know of the qualifications of the author, that it is one of 
the most valuable works of the kind in the market. 

From the Albany Argus. 
Modern Geography and History. — Mr. Edwin Williams, 
the publisher and compiler of the New-York Annual Re- 



8 



gister, has added another to the valuable publications for 
which the public are indebted to his industry and enter- 
prise, in a revision and extension of Pinnock's celebrated 
work on modern geography. The plan of this geography 
is to combine a summary of the history and present condi- 
tion of each country with its geography, and to adapt it to 
the use of schools and academies, by references to the maps, 
and by questions designed to elicit from the learner the 
facts stated in the historical and statistical parts of the 
work. Numerous additions have been made in the revi- 
sion, particularly in that part relating to America, which, 
it appears, has been entirely re-writtenjand extended over 
one hundred pages. It gives also full descriptions of the 
West India Islands, not particularly noticed in any other 
geography ; extended notices of the modern divisions and 
revolutions in South America, and in Greece and Belgium, 
&c &c. The entire work appears to have been prepar- 
ed with the usual care and accuracy of the America edit- 
or : and his own additions are among the most valuable of 
the many important and interesting facts with which the 
book is replete. The character of both the American and 
the English author must commend the work to the favora- 
ble notice of teachers and all interested in facilitating the 
business of public instruction. 

PinnocJc's Modern Geography and History, revised 
by Edwin Williams, is an excellent compendium of the 
branches on which it treats, and we cheerfully recommend 
it for adoption by teachers and others. Were this work 
in general use by the higher classes in academies and 
schools, the labors of instruction would be greatly dimin- 
ished and the youth of our country, of both sexes, would 
exhibit a knowledge of Geography and History which is 
far from being frequent at present. 



John F. Jenkins, Principal of 

the Male Department ; 
Arabella Clark, Principal of 




the Female Department ; 
February 22, 1836. 



PinnocJc's Geography, — This is an excellent book, 



9 



and not inferior in value to any which have been put forth 
by this most industrious compiler and author. 

The work is of that terse, comprehensive character, 
which distinguishes his former productions. It is full of 
entertainment and instruction, clear and judicious in style 
and arrangement, discriminating in the selection of topics, 
abundant in details, and conducted with that peculiar bre- 
vity which leaves not a word redundant or deficient. It is a 
valuable class book, and merits general adoption in the 
schools. — Silliman's " American Journal of Science and 
Arts:' Vol. XXVII. No. 2. July, 1835. 



Works Published by Leavitt, Lord, $ Co. 



RECOMMENDATIONS OF BARNES' NOTES. 
From Abbott's Religious Magazine. 
We have previously, in a brief notice, recommended to our readers 
Barnes' Notes on the Gospels. But a more extended acquaintance with 
that work has very much increased our sense of its value. We never 
have opened any commentary on the Gospels, which has afforded us so 
much satisfaction. Without intending, in the least degree, to disparage 
the many valuable commentaries which now aid the Christian in the 
study of the Bible, we cannot refrain from expressing our gratitude to the 
Author, for the interesting and profitable instructions he has given us. — 
The volumes are characterized by the following merits. 

1. The spirit which imbues them is highly devotional. It is a devotion 
founded on knowledge. It is a zeal guided by discretion. 

2. The notes are eminently intellectual. Apparent difficulties are fairly 
met. They are either explained, or the want of a fully satisfactory expla- 
nation admitted. There is none of that slipping by a knot which is too 
common in many commentaries. 

3. The notes are written in language definite, pointed and forcible. There 
is no interminable flow of lazy words. Every word is active and does its 
work well. There are no fanciful expositions. There are no tedious dis- 
play of learning. 

There may be passages in which we should diffe- from the writer in 
some of the minor shades of meaning. There may be sometimes an un- 
guarded expression which has escaped our notice. We have not scruti- 
nized the volumes with the eye of a critic. But we have used them 
in our private reading. We have used them in our family. And we have 
invariably read them with profit and delight. 

We have just opened the book to select some, passage as an illustration 
of the spirit of the work. The Parable of the rich man and Lazarus now 
lies before us. The notes explanatory of the meaning of the parables, are 
full and to the point. The following are the inferences, which Mr. Barnes 
deduces. 

" From this impressive and instructive parable, we may learn, 
"1. That the souls of men do not die with their bodies. 
" 2. That the souls of men are conscious after death ; that they do not 
sleep, as some have supposed, till the morning of the resurrection. 

" 3. That the righteous are taken to a place of happiness immediately 
at death, and the wicked consigned to misery. 
"4. That wealth does not secure us from death. 

" How vain are riches to secure 
Their haughty owners from the grave. 

"The rich, tne beautiful, the gay, as well as the poor, go down to the 
grave. All their pomp and apparel ; all their honors, their palaces and 
their gold cannot save them. Death can as easily find his way into the 
mansions of the rich as into the cottages of the poor, and the rich shall 
turn to the same corruption, and soon, like the poor, be undistinguished 
from common dust, and be unknown. 

"5, We should not envy the condition of the rich. 

" On slippery rocks I see them stand, 
And fiery billows roll below. 

"6. We should strive for a better inheritance, than can be possessed in 
this life. 

" ' Now I esteem their mirth and wine, 
Too dear to purchase with my blood, 
Lord 'tis enough that thou art mine, 
My life, my portion, and my God.' " 

" 7. The sufferings of the wicked in hell will be indiscribably great. 
Think what is represented by torment, by burning flame, by insupportable 
thirst, by that state when a single drop of water would afford relief. Re- 
member that all this is but a representation of the pains of the damned, 
and that this will have no relief, day nor night, but will continue from 

8 



Works Published by Leavitt, Lord, 6f Co. 



RECOMMENDATIONS OF BARNES' NOTES. 

year to year, and age to age, and without any end, and you have a faint 
view of the sufferings of those who are in hell. 

"8. There is a place of suffering beyond the grave, a hell. If there is 
not, then this parable has no meaning. It is impossible to make anything 
of it unless it is designed to teach that. 

"9. There will never be any escape from those gloomy regions. There 
is a gulf fixed—; fixed, not moveable. Nor can any of the damned beat a 
pathway across this gulf, to the world of holiness. 

"10. We see the amazing folly of those, who suppose there may be an 
end to the sufferings of the wicked, and who on that supposition seem 
willing to go down to hell to suffer a long time, rather than go at once to 
heaven. If man were to suffer but a thousand years, or even one year, 
why should he be so foolish as to choose that suffering, rather than go at 
once to heaven, and be happy at once when he dies'? 

.11. God gives us warning sufficient to prepare for death. He has sent 
his word, his servants, his son ; he warns us by his Spirit and his provi- 
dence, by the entreaties of our friends, and by the death of sinners. He 
offers us heaven, and he threatens hell. If all this will not move sinners, 
what would do it 1 There is nothing that would. 

12. God will give us nothing farther to warn us. No dead man will 
come to life, to tell us what he has seen. If he did, we would not believe 
him. Religion appeals to man, not by ghosts and frightful apparitions. 
It appeals to their reason, their conscience, their hopes, and their fears. — 
It sets life and death soberly before men, and if they will not choose the 
former they must die. If you will not hear the Son of God, and the truth 
of the Scriptures, there is nothing which you will or can hear; you will 
never be persuaded, and never will escape the place of torment." 

If we have any influence with our readers, we would recommend them 
to buy these volumes. There is hardly any Christian in the land, who will 
not find them an invaluable treasure. 

Extract of a Letter from a distinguished Divine of Neio England. 

It (Barnes' Notes) supplies an important and much needed desideratum 
in the means of Sabbath School and Bible Class instruction. 

Without descending to minute criticism, or attempting a display of 
learning, it embraces a wide range of general reading, and brings out the 
results of an extended and careful investigation of the most important 
sources of Biblical knowledge. 

The style of the work is as it should be, plain, simple, direct ; often 
vigorous and striking; always serious and earnest. 

It abounds in fine analyses of thought and trains of argument, admira- 
bly adapted to aid Sabbath School Teachers in their responsible duties: 
often too, very useful to Ministers when called suddenly to prepare for 
religious meetings, and always helpful in conducting the exercises of a 
Bible Class. 

Without vouching for the correctness of every explanation and sentiment 
contained in the Notes, its author appears to have succeeded very nappily 
in expressing the mind of the Holy Spirit as revealed in those parts of the 
New Testament which he has undertaken to explain. 

The theology taught in these volumes, drawn as it is from the pure 
fountain of truth, is eminently common sense and practical. 

It has little to do with theory or speculation. 

The author appears not to be unduly wedded to any particular school or 
system of theology, but to have a mind trained to habits of independent 
thinking, readily submissive to the teachings of inspiration, but indisposed 
to call any man master, or to setup anything in opposition to the plain 
testimony of the Bible. 

We would here say, once for all, we consider Barnes' Notes the best 
commentary for families we have seen. — N. E. Spectator. 

3 



Works Published by Leavitt, Lord, 6f Co. 



RECOMMENDATIONS OF BARNES' NOTES. 

If the degree of popular favor with which a work of biblical instruct 
tion is received by an intelligent Christian community be a just criterion 
of its value, the volumes which the Rev. Mr. Barnes is giving the Church 
are entitled to a high place in the scale of merit.— N. Y. Evangelist. 

From Review of the Gospels in Biblical Repertory. 

We have only to say further, by way of introduction, that we admire 
the practical wisdom evinced by Mr. Barnes in selecting means by which 
to act upon the public mind, as well as his self-denying diligence in labor- 
ing to supply the grand defect of our religious education. Masterly expo- 
sition, in a popular form, is the great desideratum of the Christian public. 

The Notes are always readable, and almost always to the point. No- 
thing appears to have been said for the sake of saying something. This is 
right. It is the only principle on which our books of popular instruction 
can be written with success. Its practical value is evinced by the exten- 
jive circulation of the work before us, as well as by the absence of that 
heaviness and langour, which inevitably follow from a verbose style, or th* 
want of a definite object. 

Mr. Barnes' explanations are in general brief and clear, comprising 
the fruit of very diligent research. 

We have been much pleased with his condensed synopsis of the usual 
arguments on some disputed points, as well as with his satisfactory solu- 
tion of objections. 

But Mr. Barnes' has not been satisfied with merely explaining the 
language of the text. He has taken pains to add those illustrations which 
verbal exposition, in the strict sense cannot furnish. The book is rich in 
archaeological information. All that could well be gathered from the com- 
mon works on biblical antiquities, is wrought into the Notes upon those 
passages which need such elucidation. 

In general we admire the skill with which he sheds the light of archae- 
ology and history upon the text of scripture, and especially the power of 
compression which enables him to crowd a mass of knowledge into a 
narrow space without obscurity. 

While the explanation of the text is the primary object kept in view 
throughout these notes, religious edification is by no means slighted. 
Mr. Barnes' devotional and practical remarks bear a due proportion to 
the whole. 

From what we have said it follows of course, that the work before us 
has uncommon merit. Correct explanation, felicitous illustration, and 
impressive application, are the characteristic attributes of a successful 
commentary. Though nothing can be added in the way of commendation 
which is not involved in something said already, there are two detached 
points which deserve perhaps to be distinctly stated. We are glad to see 
that Mr. Barnes not only shuns the controversial mode of exposition, but 
often uses expressions on certain disputed subjects, which in their obvious 
sense t convey sound doctrine in its strictest form. What variety of 
meaning these expressions may admit of, or are likely to convey, we do 
not know ; but we are sure that in their simple obvious meaning they are 
strongly Calvanistic in the good old sense. 

The other point to which we have alluded is Mr. Barnes' frankness 
and decision in condemning fanatical extravagance and inculcating Christ- 
ian prudence. 

With respect to Mr. Barnes' style we have little to say beyond a gene- 
ral commendation. The pains which he has wisely taken to be Drief, 
have compelled him to write well. 

4 



WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED 



BV 

LEAVITT, LORD & CO. 

WITH SOME EXTRACTS FROM NOTICES OF THEM. 



SHIP AND SHORE, or Leaves from the Journal of a 
Cruise to the Levant — by an officer of the Navy. 

Another contribution from a source, to which nobody would have 
thought of turning, but a few years ago ; but which is now beginning 
to yield fruit abundantly and of an excellent flavor, sound, wholesome 
and trustworthy ; not those warm cheeked and golden pippins of the 
Red Sea, which 'turn to ashes on the lips' — but something you may 
bite with all your strength, of a grapy, and oftentimes of a peachy 
flavor. The preface itself is a gem. — New-England Galaxy. 

This book is written with sprightliness and ease, and may justly 
claim to be considered an agreeahle as well as an instructive compan- 
ion. It is inscribed in a brief but modest dedication to Mrs. E. D. Reed — 
a lady of uncommon refinement, of manners and intellectual accom- 
plishments. The descriptions of Madeira and Lisbon are the best we 
have read. The pages are uniformly enriched with sentiment, or enli- 
vened by incident. The author, whoever he is, is a man of sentiment, 
taste and feeling. — Boston Courier. 

MEMOIRS OF MRS. WINSLOW, late Missionary to 
India, by her husband, Rev. Miron Winslow* — in a neat 12mo, 
with a Portrait. 

The book contains a good history of that mission, including the 
plan and labors of the Missionaries, and the success attending them, 
together with almost every important event connected with the mission. 
It also presents much minute information on various topics which must 
be interesting to the friends of missions, relating to the character, cus- 
toms and religion of the people — their manner of thinking and living : 
and the scenery of their country and its climate. It also describes the 
perplexities and encouragements of Missionaries in all the departments 
of their labor, and throws open to inspection the whole interior of a 
mission and amission family, exhibiting to the reader what missionary 
work and missionary life are, better perhaps than any thing before 
published. — Missionary Her&ld. 

Mrs. VVinslow would have been a remarkable character under any 
circumstances, and in any situation. Had she not possessed a mind 
of unusual power and decision, she never could have triumphed over 



the obstacles which were thrown in her way. We hope thai in this 
memoir many a pious young lady, will find incitements to prayerfulness 
and zeal — ana that our readers will enjoy the privilege of reading all 
the pages of this interesting volume.— Abbott's Magazine. 

PASTOR'S DAUGHTER— or the Way of Salvation ex- 
plained to a Young Inquirer ; from reminiscences of the conver- 
sations of the late Dr. Payson with his daughter. 

ZINZENDORFF, a new original Poem—by Mrs. L. H. 
Sigourney, with other Poems, 12mo. This book is in a neat 
style, and well calculated for Holiday presents. 

HARLAN PAGE'S MEMOIRS, one of the most useful 
books ever published. 

There has been much fear that the attention of the church was 
becoming too exclusively turned towards the great external forms of sin. 
These fears are not groundless. Here, however, is one remedy. The 
circulation of such a work as this, holding up a high standard of ardent 
personal piety, and piety, too, showing itself in the right way — by quiet, 
unpretending efforts to spread the kingdom of Christ from soul to 
soul. — Abbott's Magazine. 

COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF PSALMS ; on 
a plan embracing the Hebrew Text, with a New Literal Version. 
By George Bush, Prof, of Heb. and Orient. Lit. in the New- 
York City University. 

This commentary, although it every where discovers evidence of 
highly respectable research, is not designed exclusively far the use of 
mere biblical critics. It is true the author has constant recourse to the 
Hebrew and to ancient translations and commentaries, &c. in the ex- 
planation of difficult passages : but he does it with such clearness of 
perception and such tact of language that even unlettered readers can 
hardly fail to be profited by his comments. He has hit with an admira- 
ble degree of precision, the happy medium between a commentary pure- 
ly scholastic and critical, which could be interesting to only a few very 
learned men, and one exclusively practical, which would be likely to be 
unsatisfactory to men of exact and scrutinizing minds. It is a pleas- 
ing circumstance, although some perhaps may be disposed to make it 
a ground of carping and disparagement, that the work is an American 
one. It is written in our own land and by one of our own beloved breth- 
ren, and is therefore entitled on the ground of country and patriotism, as 
well as ofreligion, to all that kindness and favor of reception, which may 
be justified by its intrinsic merits. The work is published in a highly 
creditable style by the house of Leavitt, Lord & Co. New-York. — 
Christian Mirror. 

We have spent so much time, delightfully, in reading this number, 
that we have little left for description of its contents. "We have first 
an admirable preface of two pages, stating the plan and object of the 
work. Persons wishing to revive their knowledge of neglected Hebrew, 
or desirous to learn it anew without a teacher, can find no book better 
adapted to facilitate the acquisition than this, in addition to a grammar 
and dictionary. 

The good sense of Mr. Bush, is well indicated by his remarks on the 
word Selah where it first occurs. No mere empiric would have made 
such an acknowledgment. — lb. 



3 



While the work is adapted to be a real treat more particularly for 
scholars, it is so conducted that readers merely of the English version 
can hardly fail to receive from it much profit and delight— Pittsburgh 
Friend. 

We have not examined critically all the notes, but we have examined, 
them enough to satisfy ourselves of the author's competency to his 
work and of his fidelity. — Christian Register. 

The mechanical execution of the work is beautiful, particularly the 
Hebrew text, and fully equal to any thing that has come from the 
Andover Press, which hitherto has stood unrivalled in this country, for 
biblical printing. The introduction and notes give evidence of laborious 
and patient investigation, extensive biblical learning, and heartfelt piety. 
It promises to be a work of great value and we hope it will meet with 
ample encouragement. — Cincinnati Journal. 

A GRAMMAR OF THE HEBREW LANGUAGE, with 
a brief Chrestomathy for the use of beginners, by George Bush, 
Prof. Heb. and Orient. Lit. in the N. Y. city University. 

We hail sincerely this finely executed volume, with its tastefui dis- 
play of the University front labelled in gilt on the back. But the out- 
ward dress is a matter of minor moment. It is the marrow of the book 
which gives us pleasure. That it is calculated to be an important ac- 
cession to the elementary works on Hebrew, no one acquainted with 
the ripe scholarship of Prof. B. can doubt, much less any one who has 
examined the book. The main object of the author in preparing it, as 
we learn from his well written preface, was to facilitate the acquisition 
of the holy tongue by the simplification of its elements. With the 
book as a guide, the student will find the entrance upon the language 
instead of difficult and repulsive, easy and inviting. Taken altogether, 
we regard the grammar of Prof. B. as eminently adapted to the use of 
students in our Theological Seminaries ; and we see not why it should 
not successfully compete with the ablest of its predecessors. In addi- 
tion to its intrinsic rights it has moreover the recommendation of being 
sold at the low price of $1 25.— iV. Y. Evangelist. 

It is enough to say for the information of students in this most in- 
teresting and valuable department of human (rather divine) knowledge, 
that in this grammar they will find all the information requisite for 
ordinary purposes in a form more accessible and inviting than has usual- 
ly been given it. Minor recommendations are, the inviting character of 
the print, and the moderate price of $1 25 (the chrestomathy being part 
of the same volume.) Students in Hebrew, especially if they have 
made trial of other grammars, will deem this work a valuable acces- 
sion to our facilities for the acquisition of this original and sacred tongue. 
It need scarce be added that this commendation is given without any 
disposition to injure the deserved repute of the almost father of Hebrew 
literature in this country. He will not surely, regret that a spirit which 
has done so much to promote, should develop itself in new and felici- 
tous attempts to improve the field that he so arduously and successfully 
cultivates. — N. Y. Churchman. 

f t Prof. Stuart's grammar is full and copious. Prof. Bush bears tes- 
timony to its merit, and observes that his design has been, by a greater 
simplification of the elements, to produce a work better adapted to the 
wants of those who are beginning a course of careful study of the 
language, while the grammar of Prof. Stuart, which leads at once 
into the deeper complexities of the language, answers in a great degree 
the purpose of an ample Thesaurus to the advanced student. We believe 



there is a greater simplification, combined with as much fullness and 
detail as are requisite to aid the student in attaining an accurate knowl- 
edge of the language. We are glad to see that Prof. Bush has returned, 
or rather adheres to the old system of the distinction of vowels into 
long and short. It has always appeared to us that the change adopted 
by Prof. Stuart from Gesenius, substituting for the distinction into 
long and short vowels, a classification into three analogous orders, 
brought with it much greater complexity without any adequate com- 
pensation in the advantage which might result from it.— Christian 
Intelligencer. 

His" grammar is more intelligible and contain-s less of unnecessary 
and doubtful matter, than any other equally complete work with which 
we are acquainted. We have no doubt that its circulation will prove an 
important means of recommending the study of the Hebrew language. 
— *N. Y. Observer. 

f^T The publishers are happy to state, from information recently 
received from the author, that the above work has been adopted as the 
text-book on Hebrew Grammar at the Theological Seminary, Prince- 
ton, N. J., and that it is under consideration, with a like view r at seve- 
ral other institutions in the country. 

FEMALE STUDENT. — LECTURES TO YOUNG LA- 
DIES, comprising Outlines and Applications on the different 
branches of Female Education. For the use of Female 
Schools, and private Libraries ; delivered to the Pupils of the 
Troy Female Seminary. By Mrs. Almira H, Lincoln Phelps, 
late Vice Principal of that Institution : Author of Familiar 
Lectures on Botany, etc. 

This lady is advantageously known as the writer of "Familiar 
Lectures on Botany," and other popular works for the use of student3 
and the young generally. Her present work may be safely commend- 
ed to the class for whom it is more especially designed, and to the use 
of schools in particular, as one of various interest, and of very judicious 
and useful composition. — Evening- Gazette. 

We recommend the work to teachers and all others who are sensi- 
ble of the vast amount of influence which woman exerts on society, 
and how inadequately she has hitherto in general been prepared to make 
that influence beneficial to our race. — Bos-ton Mercantile Journal. 

Her views of the various methods of instructing are practical, for 
they are the results of experience. To parents, particularly mothers de- 
sirous of pursuing the most judicious course in the education of their 
children, I would recommend this book as useful beyond any other 
I am acquainted with, in arming them against that parental blindness 
from which the best of parents are not wholly exempt and which often 
leads them unawares to injure in various ways the character of their 
children and lay the foundation of future misfortune for their offspring 
and sorrow for themselves. To young women who cannot afford the 
expense of attending such schools as afford the highest advantages, 
Mrs. P.'s lectures afford substantial aid in the work of self- education. 
Young Ladies about to go abroad to schools or those already from 
home, may consult this book as they would a judicious mother, or 
faithful and experienced friend :• it will warn them of the dangers 
to which they will be exposed, or the faults into which they are liable 
to fall, so that being "forewarned" they may be forearmed to escape 



5 



them. — In my opinion the peculiar tendency of this work is to produce 
in the mind that "humility" which "goes before honor," to impart 
to the thoughtless, a sense of the awful restraints of morality. — Mrs. 
Willard, Prin. Troy Female Serninary. 

The present work is intended to unfold the natural objects of female 
education. This is accomplished in a series of lectures written in a 
perspicuous, pleasing style, and treating of the various studies pursued 
in a well regulated school for young ladies. It is really and truly what 
it proposes to be, a guide in the intellectual education of woman, and 
will, we have no doubt, become a standard work in our schools and 
families. — Ladies' Magazine. 

We think this plan is generally executed in a manner calculated 
to instruct pupils and to furnish useful hints and maxims for teachers. 
We can cordially recommend the work, generally, as sound in its prin- 
ciples of education, interesting in its style, and excellent in its spirit — a 
valuable gift to pupds and teachers. — Annals of Education. 

We know not when we met with a book which we have perused 
with more pleasure, or from which we have derived more profit. The 
authoress is evidently possessed of a vigorous understanding, with just 
so much of imagination as to chasten down the matter-of-factnessof her 
style, which is eminently beautiful. She is perfectly acquainted with 
her subject, and expresses herself in a manner at once clear and forci- 
ble, affectionate and convincing. It is well known how much the 
intellectual character of the child depends on that of the mother, and 
yet girls are brought up and educated as if they were born only to buzz 
and flutter on the stage of life, instead of forming the character of a 
future generation of men. — Montreal Gazette. 

Mrs. Phelps's course of lectures furnishes a guide in the education 
of females, for mothers as well as for the young! all may profit by 
the just and practical ideas it contains relative to the various branches 
of education. It should be in the hands of all who are educating 
others, or attempting to instruct themselves. — Mad? lie Montgolfier of 
France. 

Mothers may find in this book a valuable assistant to aid them in 
bringing up their daughters to prefer duty to pleasure, and knowledge 
to amusement; and who would teach them to be learned without pe- 
dantry and graceful without affectation. Educate your daughters " to 
be wise without vanity, happy without witnesses and contented without 
admirers " — Southern Religious Intelligencer. 

Of Mrs. Phelps' Lectures to young ladies, I cannot speak in suffi- 
ciently high terms of commendation. Such a work was greatly needed 
and must prove of inestimable value. I am in the practice of reading 
portions of it to my school, &c. I shall recommend to all young 
ladies who are or may be under my care to possess themselves of copies 
of the book.— Miss E., Principal of the celebrated school for young 
ladies at Georgetown. D. C. 

Rev. Win. Cogswell, Sec. A. B. C. F. M., writes the publishers, I un- 
derstand that you are about issuing a second edition of Mrs. Phelps' 
"Lectures on Female Education." This fact I am happy to learn. 
I can cordially recommend them as being well adapted not only to inter- 
est and instruct the young ladies, of the institution for whom they were 
originally designed, but also others in similar institutions. The style 
and execution of the work is highly commendable; and the subjects on 
which it treats, important to young Ladies, acquiring a finished educa- 
tion. Its originality and value, entitle it to an extensive circulation, 
which I doubt not it will obtain. 

Boston, Oct. 16, 1835. 



6 



FOREIGN CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE LIBER- 
TIES OF THE UNITED STATES. — 2d edition. 

One excellence of the publication before us, almost peculiar to this 
writer, when compared to others who have written upon this subject in 
our country, is, that it handles the matter of discussion with calmness, 
the writer not suffering himself to indite his letters under the influence 
of exacerbated feelings, but wisely avoids those harsh and blackening 
epithets which do more to irritate the yassions than to convince and 
enlighten the judgment. On this account the book may be read with 
profit by all. — iV." Y. Christian Advocate. (Methodist.) 

The letters of Brutus deserve an extensive circulation. — Missouri, 
St. Louis Observer. (Presbyterian.) 

"From what I have seen and know, the fears entertained by the 
writer in the New- York Observer, under the caption of 'Foreign Con- 
spiracy,' &c. are not without foundation, especially in the West." — Let- 
ter of a Traveller in the West. (Maryland,) Methodist Protestant. 

u Brutus. — The able pieces over this signature, relative to the de- 
signs of Catholicity in our highly favored land, originally published in 
the New-York Observer, it is now ascertained were written, not by an 
individual who was barely indulging in conjectures, but by one who 
has witnessed the Papacy in all its deformity. One who has, not long 
since, travelled extensively in the Romish countries, and has spent 
much time in the Italian States, where the seat of the Beast is. Rome 
is familiar to him, and he has watched the movements there with great 
particularity. We may, therefore, yield a good degree of credence to 
what Brutus has told us. His numbers are now published in a pam- 
phlet, and the fact which has just come out in regard to his peculiar 
qualification to write on this great subject, will give them extensive cir- 
culation." — Ulica Baptist Register. 

The numbers of Brutus. — H Our readers are already acquainted with 
their contents. The object is to awaken the attention of the American 
public to a design, supposed to be entertained by the despotic govern- 
ments of Europe, particularly of Austria, in conjunction with his Holi- 
ness the Pope, to undermine gradually our free institutions by the pro- 
motion of the Catholic Religion in America. The letters are interest- 
ing, from the numerous facts which they disclose; and are deserving 
the careful attention of the citizens of these United States, who should 
guard with vigilance the sacred trust which has been confided to us by 
our fathers." — N. Y. Weekly Messenger. 

The work embodies a mass of facts, collected from authentic sour- 
ces, of the deepest interest to every friend of civil liberty and Protestant 
Christianity. The efforts of despotic European sovereigns, to inocu- 
late our country with the religion of Rome, are fully proved. Could 
they succeed in these efforts, and annihilate the spirit of liberty on our 
shores, the march of free principles in our own dominions would cease. 
They could then sit securely on their thrones, and rule with a rod of 
iron over their abject vassals. — Ohio, Cincinnati Journal, (Presbyte- 
rian.) 



